


winter in the woods

by LightningRooks



Series: the unlikeliest of families [3]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, I've overhauled Splinter's powers so, Splinter is an Empath, and a low level telepath
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2018-10-28 23:25:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 27,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10841646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightningRooks/pseuds/LightningRooks
Summary: there's something lurking in the woods outside the tiny, sleepy town of inlet. two somethings, in fact. some strange man beast and a woman who could only be described as either a demon or a witch. the whole town is on edge- just what do these beings want?or, the winter that splinter and the turtles spent with paola and cassandra.





	1. Chapter 1

cassandra woke up to the sounds of hushed laughter and a comically loud whisper of “shouldn’t we wake her up? she’s been asleep forever.” 

“no,” she heard splinter say. “cassandra has not slept well the last few days thanks to us, so we should let her rest.”

“to be fair,” cassandra started, voice groggy from sleep. she cleared her throat before continuing. “you’ve only gotten a few more hours of sleep than i have.”

with this, she opened her eyes and yawned. cassandra sat up, her mane of golden hair a mess, and stretched. the first thing she saw was mikey staring at her from the edge of the couch. she waved before getting up and walking to the kitchen. splinter was sitting there, and so was leo, who was coloring. donnie was curled up in her chair reading, and raph was watching cartoons.

“ ‘morning everyone,” cassandra said sleepily. she was met with a chorus of ‘good morning’s, and it made the capellan smile. the mood in the small apartment was incredibly relaxed- far from the first morning, where cassandra had to quickly explain herself, nor the second morning, where cassandra left before dawn because she couldn’t sleep. pale sunlight streamed through the kitchen window and- wait, sunlight? it was the beginning of january. the sun wasn’t up this early.

“splinter, what time is it?” she asked, still blinking the sleep from her eyes.

“it’s ten thirty two,” he replied. “we didn’t mean to wake you-”

“ten thirty two?” cassandra repeated, eyes wide with disbelief. “geez, why didn’t you wake me up sooner?”

“you’ve lost so much sleep over us- because of us- i just wanted to give you a chance to rest,” splinter said. he felt bad that their presence had thrown cassandra’s life into chaos.

cassandra ran a hand through her hair and said, “yeah, but like i said, you’ve only gotten a few more hours of sleep than me.”

“still…” splinter said, trailing off.

“listen, i’ve been far more sleep deprived than i was yesterday, so don’t worry about it,” cassandra said, shrugging. she went about making her breakfast as everyone went back to what they were doing before cassandra had woken up.

everyone, that is, except raphael. he walked over to cassandra, looking almost sheepish as he approached her.

“uh, cassandra?” he said, looking away.  cassandra, who had just poured herself a cup of coffee, turned around and looked at the tiny turtle with curious eyes.

“what’s up, kiddo?” she said, eyebrows raised.

“uh…’m sorry for breakin’ the vase...everythin’ yesterday...it’s my fault,” raph mumbled, looking guilty.

cassandra raised her eyebrows  in confusion, glancing at splinter to see that he was caught just as off guard by raph’s apology as she was. however, the other turtles didn’t seem to be- they must have discussed this amongst themselves while cassandra and splinter weren’t listening.

“kid, no, you don’t have to apologize,” cassandra said, shaking her head. “yesterday- that wasn’t your fault. i mean, objectively yes, you breaking the vase did set off that whole chain of events, but...that’s what kids do. they break shit- stuff- sorry,” cassandra apologized for her slip up.

splinter just waved it off. it wasn’t like she hadn’t already sworn in front of his kids when she was simply a voice over the phone- besides, he was more interested in what she was saying than her mistake.

“kids break stuff- that’s just a fact of life. i’m not going to blame you for just being a kid...and i’m sorry that there were such extreme consequences to something that should have been just another ordinary thing,” cassandra said, and then added, “i mean, please don’t go around intentionally breaking stuff, but...yesterday wasn’t your fault. not really.”

“o-oh,” raph said, confused. “okay.”

the other turtles seem to be just as confused. wasn’t it raph’s fault? cassandra didn’t talk about it again, and their father seemed to be deep in thought as well.

after cassandra ate her breakfast, she sat at the kitchen table, staring off into space as she peered into the future, trying to figure out what would be the best course of action- when they should leave, what they would need- all that stuff.

everyone was a bit puzzled by her blank stare, and after five minutes, splinter reached over to gently shake her, but as soon as he touched her, he was bombarded by images and sounds, and under all of that, emotions.

the images flashed by so quickly splinter got dizzy- he could make out only a few things ( _ lights on the highway a cabin covered in snow a spiral staircase down into a cavern _ ) before he ripped his hand away, as if he’d been burnt by the contact. the emotions that came with it weren’t...bad ( _ contentedness affection relief _ ), per se, but they felt  **foreign-** making it clear that they were  _ not  _ his own.

cassandra had turned her head sharply at the contact, eyes wide and mouth slightly open, looking just as shocked and confused and he felt. did she see that all too? or perhaps-

“i...didn’t know you could share your visions,” splinter said slowly, his heart pounding in his chest.

“i can’t,” cassandra replied, shaking her head slowly. she was just as shaken as he was- that sudden surge of emotions ( _ calm comfort concern _ ) had been unlike anything cassandra had ever experienced.

“but...that’s what that was, is it not?” splinter asked. at this point, they had managed to draw the attention of all four turtles, who looked on curiously.

“yes, but i- i can’t share my visions. that must have been you,” cassandra said, pointing at splinter.

“me? but i can’t…i can’t do anything like that,” splinter said, brow furrowed.

“do what?” mikey asked, climbing up onto the stool next to the two adults. 

cassandra rubbed her temples. “that was...telepathy, right?” cassandra guessed, looking at splinter. he shrugged- he had no idea.

“telepathy?” leo asked, curious.

“it means one of them can read minds,” donnie said, looking out from over the edge of the chair. “but cassandra just said it wasn’t her so…”

“i  _ knew  _ it!” raph shouted. “i knew dad could read minds!”

“but i  _ can’t _ !” splinter protested. “if i was telepathic, don’t you think i’d know that by now?”

“maybe...maybe not,” cassandra said, resting her head in her hand and staring at him curiously.  “you’re sure nothing like this has happened before?”

“you actually think i’m a telepath?” splinter asked, stunned.

“it’s the only thing that makes  _ sense _ ,” cassandra said. there was, of course, one other option. dulcie had told her about it, but in the four years since the incident...cassandra hadn’t noticed any changes. part of her truly believed it was splinter, and another part of her just desperately didn’t want it to be  _ her _ .

“but i’m not…” splinter trailed off. there was no way it could be him- he didn’t have that kind of power.

“let’s drop it for now,” cassandra said, sensing how uncomfortable splinter was. “that, uh, certainly was  _ something _ , though.”

“that it was,” splinter agreed, still unsettled by what had happened.

* * *

“what if-” cassandra started, buttoning her vest as she exited her bedroom.

“cassandra, please,” splinter said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “you were the one who said to drop it.”

“i know, i know,” she said, running a hand through her hair. “but i just can’t stop thinking about what happened.”

splinter wished she would. what had happened- it was probably just...it was probably nothing. he wasn’t telepathic, and...and maybe she just had never tried to share her visions before! that- that made sense.

he didn’t...he didn’t want to be any stranger than he already was. didn’t want to be even more a freak. if he’d been human still, then perhaps he’d be more open to the idea of him being a telepath...but right now, the thought made him uneasy.

he turned to look at cassandra, and raised an eyebrow when he saw what she was dressed in. she wore a white dress shirt, a black tie, and a navy blue vest and dress pants. her sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, showing off her tattoos. this outfit was a stark contrast between what he had seen her wear previously, which was largely tank tops and sweatpants.

he had to admit, she cleaned up nicely.

“what are you so dressed up for?” splinter asked, but it came out harsher than he’d intended, and cassandra blinked and put her hands up.

“i just like looking nice,  _ jeez _ ,” she said, with a nervous laugh. 

“i didn’t mean- i just…” splinter trailed off, trying to figure out how to right his mistake. “...you do look nice.”

cassandra smiled. “thank you,” she said, sitting next to him. she tapped her fingers on the table, and splinter was sure she was going to bring up whatever question she had started when she’d come out of her bedroom.

“what are you thinking about?” splinter asked, eyebrow raised.

it took a lot of self control for cassandra to not make some smartass comment along the lines of ‘you tell me.’

“i was thinking- the boys are going to need snow stuff. like coats and pants and boots- all that stuff,” cassandra said. “even if they do stay in the cabin or the ship most of the winter- it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“true…” splinter said, pleasantly surprised that she hadn’t brought up the incident again. “but how are we going to get all that?”

“i’ll just go to a thrift store and pick them up,” cassandra said with a shrug. then she looked down, and pointed at splinter’s feet. “we should get you some boots too.”

“me?” splinter said, eyebrows furrowed. “why?”

cassandra gave him a look that said ‘are you serious?’

“because you can’t walk around in snow and ice with absolutely nothing on your feet?” she said, as if it was obvious. and perhaps it should have been obvious, but…

“i’ve been doing just fine the last few years,” splinter said, looking down at his inhuman feet.

“wait- you haven’t worn shoes at all for the last few years?” cassandra asked, stunned. “how do you have all your toes?”  

“i don’t,” splinter deadpanned.

cassandra made an exasperated noise. “that just proves my point-” she started before splinter cut her off.

“i lost one toe on each foot when i mutated,” splinter said, a smug look on his face signaling that he’d just tricked her.

“ha ha,” cassandra said, rolling her eyes. under her breath, she said, “smart a- aleck.”

you didn’t have to be a telepath to figure out what cassandra had meant to say- she was really trying to curb her swearing, and splinter did appreciate it.

“still, my point is that we should get you something to wear on your feet,” she said. she then lined her bare foot up with his, and compared their sizes. splinter moved his foot to meet hers, humoring her despite still thinking he didn’t need shoes. “yeah, you can’t be more than a size up from me. i’ll pick you up some boots when i’m out.”

“cassandra, i can’t ask you to-” splinter started, before cassandra cut him off.

“you’re not- i’m offering,” cassandra said.

splinter sighed, then nodded. “all right. but you don’t need to get me boots,” he said, firmly.

“you do realize i’m going to anyway, right?” cassandra replied.

“yes, i know,” he grumbled.

* * *

“if all you got out of it was emotions, then that wasn’t telepathy,” paola said on the other end. 

“but splinter said something about me being able to share my visions, which meant he must have gotten more out of it than just emotions,” cassandra replied, holding two bags of coats, snowpants, and boots as she walked back home. 

“i suppose so...if neither of you got actual thoughts though, then he must be a really shitty telepath,” paola mused.  

“paola!” cassandra scolded, and she could practically hear her friend roll her nonexistent eyes.

“what i mean is that he must be a low level telepath- and if it was mostly emotions, well then, he’s an empath more than a telepath,” paola said, to which cassandra furrowed her eyebrows.

“empaths deal with emotions rather than thoughts, right?” cassandra asked, wanting to double check.

“yes, empaths can read and in some cases, even influence the emotions of those around them,” paola explained, and from her definition, cassandra could tell paola was looking all of this up as they had this conversation.

“influence the emotions of those around them? to what extent?” cassandra asked, curious.

“well, nothing really lasting- most of the time,” paola answered. “they can’t make someone love them, or like, make someone happy all the time. but they can certainly boost someone’s mood, and well...they can incite terror, and that’s likely to become permanent, especially coupled with a scary experience.”

cassandra was silent for a few moments before musing, “that sounds...convenient.”

“i suppose you would fixate on that,” paola said, before asking quietly, “you do know...it might not be him that’s-”

“don’t,” cassandra said, voice curt.

“cassandra, you know that it could just as easily be something left over from-” paola started, and her voice had the same tone one might take when trying to calm down a wounded animal.

“i don’t want it to be anything left over from atlas!” cassandra nearly shouted, drawing attention from people nearby. she dropped her voice, now talking in an angry whisper. “it's been almost four years, paola, and i haven't noticed any changes in myself. if there was anything left over from atlas, don't you think i’d have noticed by now?”

“maybe...maybe not,” paola answered. she let out a static filled sigh, and said, “we’ll drop it for now. but...if he  _ is  _ a telepath...he could check for remnants of atlas.”

“okay...but then i’d have to tell him about atlas,” cassandra said slowly.

“you...haven’t? why not?” paola asked, puzzled.

“what do you mean ‘why not?’ why would i  _ ever  _ tell him about atlas?” she replied, with a bitter laugh.

“...because he’s your friend?” paola said, as if it should be obvious.

“yeah- up until i tell him about atlas, at which point he’ll- he’ll…” cassandra trailed off.

“he’ll judge you? he’ll blame you? he’ll  _ hate  _ you? cassandra, splinter is so far removed from the situation- he’s  **not** going to hold it against you,” paola said, surprised to find herself defending him, especially after their argument yesterday.

“i still- i don’t want  _ anyone  _ else to ever know about what happened- about what me and dulcie did,” cassandra said, getting upset.

“cassandra, i really think…i think telling him, having someone outside of it all to talk about- it might be good for you,” paola stressed, growing tired of cassandra’s stubbornness. “right now, everyone that knows was somehow involved in it all. but he wasn't- so maybe being able to talk to him about it-”

“i don’t want to tell him, i don’t want anyone else to know, and i  _ don’t  _ want to have this conversation!” cassandra said, voice getting louder as she went on.

paola had had enough.

“you  _ never  _ want to have this conversation, that’s the fucking problem! atlas is  _ dead _ , cassandra! you need to stop living in the shadow of your one, childish mistake!” paola exploded.

“yes, atlas is dead, and dulcie is dead because of it!” cassandra said viciously. “i’m done having this conversation, paola.”

with that, cassandra hung up.

* * *

“you seem upset, is something-” splinter started after cassandra sat down next to him. she’d finished distributing the snow pants and jackets, and her expression was... stormy, to say the least.

“i’m not-” cassandra started, snapping at him, before stopping herself, and taking a deep breath. “i...paola and i got into a fight.”

splinter raised an eyebrow- he hadn’t expected that. considering how overprotective paola was of cassandra, he thought that she would never question her, let alone get into fights with her.

“do you want-” splinter started, before cassandra cut him off by shaking her head.

“not really,” she said miserably. splinter wasn’t sure what else to do other than put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. “paola’s gonna be so pissy when we get there- at me, not you guys.”

with that, cassandra answered a question splinter was just about to ask- would paola still allow them to come up if she and cassandra had fought?

“anyway,” cassandra said, before splinter could say anything to comfort her, “i was thinking we should go tonight.”

“tonight?” splinter echoed. he knew they had to hurry to beat the blizzard, but wasn’t that a little quick?

“yeah- i was checking things over when that-” cassandra said, gesturing vaguely at the kitchen table, “happened. it’ll be safest to go tonight.

“well...alright then,” splinter said. “we’ll go tonight then.”

“oh, and here,” cassandra said, reaching into the bag at her side. she pulled out of it a pair of boots.

“cassandra, you didn’t have to-” splinter started before she cut him off.

“i know, i wanted to,” she said, handing him the boots. “besides, i told you i was going to.”

splinter took the boots and thanked her. they did seem like they would fit, at least.

* * *

the first hour passed by quietly. this was, without a doubt, the most nerve wracking part of their trip. splinter sunk low in his seat as traffic crawled forward, hood covering as much of his face as possible.

the boys were in the back, in their jackets. the jackets were mostly to hide their shells, since cassandra was more than capable of heating the car on her own. splinter and cassandra traded off reminding the boys not to press their faces to the windows, however amazed and awed they might be.

after reminding leo not to stare out the window so that people could see him for the millionth time, a silence fell over the car. 

“are you like superman?” mikey asked at last. 

“what do you mean, kiddo?” cassandra asked, looking back in rearview mirror. 

“superman was an alien too, and he could fly and was super strong because the gravity on his planet was stronger. so can you fly too?” mikey asked, baby blue eyes bright and curious.

“mm...well, i can’t fly, but i suppose i should be able to jump much higher than an earthling. and i’m probably stronger too? capella’s gravity was stronger than earth’s,” she admitted. she had never really thought of it in terms of what she could do.

“how much stronger?” donnie asked. he’d been very quiet thus far, and had been caught staring out the window the least.

“well...it must have been….twelve point four meters per second squared,” cassandra said, converting it to earth measurements in her head.

“holy  _ shit _ !” donatello shouted, causing cassandra to slap her hand over her mouth and splinter to sit up and turn around so fast it caught everyone in the car off guard.

“ **_donatello_ ** !” splinter scolded, scowl on his face. “we do not use that kind of language!”

raphael mumbled something about how ‘cassandra uses that language,’ and the smile cassandra was covering up with her hand disappeared. cassandra sunk down in her seat, looking guilty.

it was an awkward ten minutes of silence after that.

* * *

by the second hour, they were out of the city and speeding along down the highway. the farther they got from the city, the fewer cars they saw on the road next to them. now the boys were free to ooh and aah at the sights around them- however, there was nothing really to see anymore now that they were out of the city. 

donnie had gotten increasingly quiet and legarthic- rarely talking or responding to his brothers. he had gotten very pale, and slumped back against the seat.

“cassandra?” he asked quietly.

“what’s up, kiddo?” she replied, a bit worried about him.

“can you pull over?” donnie said, looking very sick. “i think i’m gonna throw-”

donnie made a gagging noise, and cassandra’s eyes widened. she pulled over as fast as possible and putting the car into park. both splinter and cassandra jumped out of the car, and cassandra threw open the door that donnie was closest to. he crawled over leo to get out, hand over his mouth…

and threw up all over cassandra’s shoes.

everyone froze: splinter, who was racing around to the other side of the car, cassandra, who’s face froze in a half disgusted, half concerned look, and donnie, who was looking up at cassandra with a somewhat scared expression.

“i’m really sorry,” donnie said at last.

cassandra took in a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose and looking up at the sky, as if asking the stars to help her get through this.

“it’s not your fault, kiddo, you didn’t mean to,” she said, lifting one foot experimentally. yeah, these shoes were trashed.

splinter came over to stand by donnie, checking to make sure he was okay.

“no one else is sick, so it’s probably just carsickness,” cassandra said, carefully slipping out of her shoes. splinter hummed in agreement.

“i feel better now,” donnie admitted sheepishly.

“that’s good, at least,” splinter said, turning to look at cassandra, who had turned her head to look at the road with an intense gaze. “cassandra?”

“the medicine i gave you- the very first time i called you- there weren’t any side effects, right?” cassandra asked, not looking away from the road.

“no...why?” he asked, confused.

“there’s a gas station not far from here. i can buy some dramamine- even if donnie doesn’t need it anymore, we can just keep in the car for the way back in spring,” she said, blinking and turning to look at him. her eyes had lost that intense look, and he realized that she’d been looking into the future.

“that sounds like a good idea,” splinter said, nodding. he looked back at donnie and asked, “do you think you’ll be okay until we get the medicine?”

donnie nodded. “yeah, i feel better now that i’ve thrown up. uh- sorry again.”

cassandra just shrugged. “don’t worry about it, kid.”

donnie climbed back into the car, and cassandra went to open her door when splinter said, “cassandra? what about your shoes?”

she looked back at her vomit coated shoes and shook her head. “i’ll just leave them. we don’t have anywhere to put them or anything to clean them with.”

“but- wait, you’re just going to drive in socks for the rest of the way?” splinter asked, eyebrow quirked. “what happened to your firm stance on needing shoes for the ice and snow?”

cassandra smirked. “ _ i’ve _ got awesome fire powers that’ll keep my feet warm.  _ you  _ do not.  ‘sides, i’ve driven under worse conditions than just barefoot.”

by the time they reached the gas station, all the boys had fallen asleep. instead of waking donnie up, they simply let him sleep and put the dramamine in the glove compartment. 

* * *

the third hour passed with quiet conversation between splinter and cassandra.

“you’ve told me a lot of nearly unbelievable things over the past few days, but that takes the cake,” splinter said, shaking his head.

“i’m serious! i learned how to drive in a car chase!” cassandra whispered, letting out a laugh. “i was fourteen and on ioavis, and i had climbed into the driver’s seat by accident. forte had jumped into the backseat- this was a big...uh...it’s hard to describe, to be honest. anyway, forte screamed at me to drive, and i told her i didn’t know how, and she screamed directions at me until we finally got away. and that’s the story of how i learned to drive in a car chase.”

“i’m genuinely surprised you managed to get away if that was your first time driving. why were you being chased in the first place?” splinter asked curiously.

cassandra’s grin faded, and she said, much less enthusiastically, “well, uh, ioavis...i told you it had been a capellan experiment, right? that ioavians were biodigital beings?”

“yes,” he said, nodding.

“well, uh, seventy years before capella was destroyed, one of the most politically powerful ioavians led a coup and killed all the capellan scientists on world. ioavis was declared a condemned planet, and no capellan set foot there again...until i came along,” cassandra said.

“why...why did you go to ioavis in the first place? especially if it was considered a condemned planet?” splinter asked.

“that would be ava’s fault- she hadn’t quite gotten the memo about ioavis. her last orders were to take me to the closest inhabited planet, which turned out to be-”

“ioavis,” splinter finished for her.

“yup. anyway, forte took me under her wing once i got there. i had to wear a visor all the time- ioavians have huge, glowing eyes that- well, it’ll be easier to show you. there’s a picture on my ship,” cassandra said. “...forte helped smuggle refugee ioavians in and out of the city, and late helped the rebellion move in and out of the city as well. she’d built her club on top of an old network of tunnels, and used them to do it.”

“the rebellion?” splinter asked, slightly alarmed. how many revolutions and rebellions had this woman been through?

“yeah, uh, the ioavians that took over weren’t exactly...benevolent. their leader was a tyrant. so...i learned how to fight, and joined the rebellion,” cassandra admitted, voice becoming sad.

“wait- how  _ old  _ were you?” splinter asked, now really alarmed.

“...fifteen. i was fifteen,” cassandra confessed. “ioavis was...bad. i can see that now. i can admit it. but back then, i was caught up in the fervor- in love with the idea of being some sort of grand heroine...yeah.”

“...i’m sorry,” splinter said, not really knowing what else to say.

“it’s not your fault. they were my choices to make, and i had to live with them,” cassandra said.

“still...you were just a child,” he said softly.

cassandra nodded. “yeah, i was.”

there was a silence, before cassandra rubbed at the scar on her left cheek.

“i hadn’t thought about it in years, but ioavis is where i got this,” she said somberly. “before you ask, i was sixteen.”

splinter couldn’t find the right words to say, so he just rested a hand on her shoulder. she shot him a weak smile as her eyes flicked between him and the road.

“can i ask you a question?” she said suddenly.

“s-sure?” he said, caught off guard.

“why do you wear those bandages on your arms all the time? i get the ones on your feet, but...i don’t get the ones on your arms,” cassandra asked, eyes again switching between him and the road.

splinter looked at his arms, and picked at the bandages, but didn’t say anything.

“you...don’t have to, if it’s a sore subject for you,” cassandra said, puzzled by his silence.

“i’d rather not,” he said at last.

* * *

the fourth hour was mostly quiet, until cassandra suddenly pulled over. splinter looked at her, confused.

“why did you stop?” he asked as cassandra got out of the car. he did the same, following her into the middle of the empty road.

“black ice. if we try to just drive over it, we’ll skid off the road and crash,” cassandra said, hands in her pockets.

splinter blinked, alarmed. “well, what do we do, then?” he asked.

cassandra gave him a smug smile and said, “i’ve got this. stand back.”

splinter took a step back.

“no, go back farther.”

two more steps back.

“...you know what you should just wait by the car.”

with a huff, splinter walked back to the car and waited. cassandra stood there, taking in deep breaths- he could see now, that her back did indeed expand with every breath, just as the chest did. it was...strange.

finally, cassandra opened her mouth, and with her hands in her pockets and in her purple floral print socks, she breathed out a huge plume of fire that shot out and covered a huge section of the road. cassandra maintained this for a while, the fire becoming even hotter as she melted the ice, then evaporated the water with the heat of it.

splinter was both amazed and intimidated by this show of power. he realized that cassandra was  _ showing off  _ when she closed her mouth and shut off the fire, an exhilarated grin on her face.

“ta-daa,” she said, gesturing at the dry road as she walked back to him.

splinter was speechless.

when she got there, he was still standing there, eyes flicking between her and the road. only then did he regain the ability to speak.

“that was- impressive,” splinter said, hesitantly. cassandra seemed satisfied by this answer, and with little else said, they got back in the car.

splinter didn’t tell her how much her power had unnerved him- when it was the small, venting puffs of fire, he was fine with it. but…that much fire brought up unpleasant memories.

* * *

“what are you thinking about?” splinter asked in the middle of the fifth hour. 

“the heat death of the universe,” cassandra replied nonchalantly, as if that was a perfectly ordinary answer.

“...what?” splinter asked, looking at her with a confused expression.

“what?” cassandra echoed.

“why are you thinking about that? what does that even mean?” he asked.

“i dunno, i just...get thinking sometimes. and the heat death of the universe is one possible fate for it- as the universe expands, so too does dark energy, and the universe will start expanding faster and faster, getting colder and colder. eventually, there won’t be enough gas to form stars, and then the stars will collapse in on themselves, creating a universe of only black holes. then, even they’ll fall apart...and there will absolutely nothing left,” cassandra explained. “just thinking about it fu- messes me up.”

“why do you think about it then?” splinter asked, trying to absorb all the information she’d just dumped.

she shrugged. “i dunno, i can’t just control what i think about. anyway, i’m hoping for the big crunch, in terms of ‘end of the universe,’ but that seems really unlikely.”

“big crunch?” splinter echoed.

“think the big bang but in reverse. the whole universe collapses in on itself, then reforms with a new big bang. to me, that’s one of the most hopeful fates for the universe,” she said. “a cycle of death and rebirth.”

“i suppose that  _ would _ be the best ending for the universe,” splinter said, mulling it over.

* * *

exactly twenty-seven minutes later, paola looked at cassandra up and down, still a bit miffed by their earlier argument. 

“where are your shoes?” she asked, before greeting her friend or her guests.

“it’s nice to see you too, paola,” cassandra said sarcastically. paola ignored her and looked at splinter up and down. though she had no facial expressions, he couldn’t help but feel that he was being judged.

“huh,” was all the four foot tall robot said, before opening the door for the two adults, who were carrying two sleeping turtles each. “i’ve set up the mattresses by the fireplace- makes yourselves at home.”

after putting the boys to bed, both splinter and cassandra immediately fell asleep once their heads hit their pillows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'll start off by saying- there's a reason splinter's powers haven't really been used or triggered up until this point. or rather, there's a reason he didn't know about his powers. whether or not he's used them, unintentionally or not, is another story.   
> but yeah, get ready for some bonding, some action, and the in depth look at splinter's powers you never knew you wanted!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which we all get to know paola a little bit better

cassandra woke up to leo shaking her, blue eyes full of excitement. for a second, she forgot where she was, and wondered why her living room seemed so big before remembering that she was in paola’s cabin.

“paola’s making pancakes!” he said as she sat up. cassandra noticed that splinter was just waking up too on the other side of the room- mikey had gone to wake him up.

“yeah?” cassandra said, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes. she stood up slowly, stretching, before making her way to the kitchen- leo trailing behind her, and splinter and mikey following suit.

“yeah! she said she had to get so good at cooking because you can’t cook to save your life,” leo chirped, and cassandra frowned.

“of course she would say that,” cassandra grumbled. she had forgotten how petty paola could be when she was mad.

from behind her, she heard splinter try to stifle a laugh, to which she turned around and stuck her tongue out at him. splinter did laugh freely at that, and cassandra just shook her head, failing to keep a smile off her face as they entered the kitchen.

donnie was standing right next to paola, arms crossed as she turned away from him to place another pancake on a plate- four plates had already been placed around the plain wooden table where raphael was sitting. mikey and leo rushed over to join him, and as splinter and cassandra moved to sit down, donnie continued talking.

“but how?” he questioned. “you don’t follow all the rules-”

“forget the rules,” paola said, a hint of impatience in her voice. “i think, i feel, i create, i empathize and i grow and change, just like you. how then, other than the composition of our bodies, are we really that different?”

donnie frowned and looked down, thinking as paola poured pancake batter into the pan. cassandra realized what they were discussing right away- it would seem that she had not convinced donnie that paola was a living being two days ago. goodness, had it been that short of a time ago? it felt like it had been ages.

cassandra gestured for splinter to sit down as she walked over to stand on the other side of paola. paola didn’t so much as turn to look at cassandra.

“how do you grow and change? your body’s inorganic,” donnie countered at last.

paola let out a static filled sigh, as if she was capable of exhaustion. “i meant as a person- personal growth and change. not literal growth.”

“isn’t it a little early to be having these kind of deep conversations anyway?” cassandra said, moving around the robot to get to the fridge, grabbing the butter and syrup.  

“they’ve been up for a while now- donnie’s been asking questions all morning,” paola said mildly.

splinter looked up from where he was sitting, ready to gently chide donatello for questioning their host- over her own personhood no less- when cassandra started talking.

“you know, you could have woken us up sooner,” cassandra said. paola shrugged in response.

“you both looked exhausted. i know _you_ don’t sleep well,” paola said, pointing a floating finger at cassandra without looking up. “and i don’t know about you, but i figured you could both use the rest.”

“thank you,” splinter said with a smile. “that was very kind of you.”

paola turned her head all the way around- just her head. it was very jarring for splinter and his sons to see her suddenly turn her head one hundred and eighty degrees. she was silent for a moment, which puzzled splinter, until she finally spoke again and said, “you’re welcome.”

splinter took this time to study their robotic host. she couldn’t be taller than four feet, and her body was white, save for her ‘eyes’- two green lights that never blinked or moved. he wondered if they worked like eyes or if paola had other optical sensors. her forearms were cone shaped- much wider at the end than at her elbow. instead of normal hands, she had twelve floating fingers. four of them were wrapped around a spatula, and three more were wrapped around the handle of the pan. the other five fingers simply floated around where paola’s hands would be.

the kitchen was almost uncomfortably silent as paola turned her attention back to the pancakes and cassandra stood next to her. donnie still stood on the other side of paola, still mulling over everything he had learned that morning.

“can i ask you one more question?” he asked paola.

“donatello, do not bother her,” splinter said with a sigh.

“he’s not bothering me,” paola said with a shrug. “but only one more question.”

“you’re an ai, and so is ava- is she alive too? is she...?” donnie trailed off, unsure how to phrase the rest of his question.

“is she a person too?” cassandra filled in for him. donnie nodded.

“that’s...complicated. you see, ava was programmed to be nothing more than an ai, nothing more than...well, than a tool really,” paola explained. “but…”

“but what?” leo prompted, curious now.

“we’re pretty sure ava’s gonna become sentient- become conscious, just like the rest of us- at some point,” cassandra said with a shrug. she leaned against the counter, facing the table. “if she’s not already.”

“why do you think that?” splinter asked, now intrigued as well.

paola and cassandra looked at each other, before replying in unison, “jayjay and owl.”

“jayjay and owl?” mikey repeated. cassandra nodded.

“yeah, they were two- well, you remember when i said genetically designed beings were more common than clones?” cassandra asked, to which everyone nodded. “well, jayjay and owl are genetically designed beings, created to be ‘perfect’ draconian-capellan hybrids, as well as have the abilities of an augur, but their augur abilities are...so-so.”

“wait- draconian-capellan hybrids? so they’re dragon people like your mom?” raph said, brow furrowed.

cassandra paused, a surprised, yet thoughtful, look on her face. “yeah, uh, exactly like my mom,” she said, sounding as if she’d been caught off guard.

“wait a minute,” paola said, turning her head to look at cassandra. “have you _never_ actually made that connection?”

cassandra shook her head, a hint of a frown on her face. “no, did you?”

“did i- of _course_ i did, cassandra!” she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. which, to be fair, it should have been. “i thought that would be as obvious as the wings on their backs, or the horns on their head. and i didn’t even know-”

“okay, paola, we get it!” cassandra interrupted, face red with embarrassment. with a huff, she said, “anyway, back to how this relates to ava-”

“change the subject all you want, you’re not living this down,” paola said with a smug tone.

“are you going to be like this all day?” cassandra finally snapped, causing everyone in the room to tense up.

paola was most startled of them all, nearly dropping the plate she had picked up to give to splinter. she turned her head to meet cassandra’s glare.

“the thought is tempting,” she snapped back, before she softened. “but, no, i’m not. we are talking about it later though.”

splinter figured that “it” was whatever they had been arguing about yesterday- something that paola was still angry about and cassandra was still defensive over, if he was reading them right.

cassandra huffed but nodded- she should have known paola wouldn’t simply let this go.

the air in the room was still tense until splinter finally said, in a desperate attempt to change the subject, “so, you were saying about ava?”

cassandra snapped, being brought back to the topic at hand and nodded. “yeah- anyway, jayjay and owl stowed away on our ship, and we had no idea why unti-”

“why did they stow away on your ship?” mikey asked, curious. “were they on the run or something?

paola and cassandra stopped, and looked at each other, and cassandra’s facial expression grew solemn.

“yes,” paola said, looking away from cassandra and nodding. “they were created by a very bad person, who wanted to use them to do very bad things. and the person who created them hurt them to...”

paola trailed off, looking back to cassandra and giving her a look that cassandra could read well. picking up where paola left off, cassandra said, “she hurt them, and so the second they got the chance, they escaped. they ran for a long time, until they came across our ship, and they decided to hide inside it.”

“we weren’t on the ship at the time, but ava was awake-”

“awake?” donnie interrupted.

“you know, active, online- however you want to say it. we just say she’s awake,” paola said, shrugging. “anyway, ava’s programming should have made her contact us, tell us there were intruders.”

“the same way she contacted us when you woke her up the other night,” cassandra added, to which paola nodded.

“and...she did not?” splinter inferred.

“yeah. we had no idea they were on the ship until we were already off world,” cassandra said. “so ava _should_ have told us that they were on board, but-”

“-she didn’t. and the only defense she had for her actions was-”

“-that she felt bad for them.” cassandra finished. splinter was mildly impressed by how in sync paola and cassandra were to be able to finish each other’s thoughts like that.

“but...isn’t that normal? feeling bad for people in trouble?” leo asked, confused.

“well...not really- not for ava, at least. ava can simulate emotions and empathy, but they are strictly coded so that they don’t interfere with her duties. the fact that her compassion overrode her coding makes us think…”

“that perhaps her feelings were genuine, and not simulated at all,” paola finished.

a silence fell over the kitchen before cassandra shrugged and broke it. “so we have no idea if she’s actually sentient or if that was a one time thing.”

after a few seconds, raph piped up, “but wait! you never said how paola was different! that was the whole point, wasn’t it?”

cassandra and paola froze, then cassandra burst out laughing, to the surprise of everyone save paola.

“well, i suppose we did get pretty far off topic,” paola said as cassandra’s laughter quieted into giggles. “point being- ava was created to just be an ai, and to simulate emotions and thought, not actually experience them. i, on the other hand, was created to be a person, with thoughts and emotions and all that.”

“by who?” donnie asked.

“w-what?” paola asked, caught off guard by his question.

“who made you?” he clarified.

she paused, and turned to look at cassandra, who wasn’t looking at her- she wasn’t looking at anyone at all- and both splinter and paola noticed how much cassandra had tensed up, all of her mirth evaporating at donnie’s question.

“that’s a story for another day,” paola said with a sad sigh.

* * *

 

breakfast was pleasant, but cassandra didn’t completely relax until it was over. splinter was perplexed by this- what was is about paola’s creation that had cassandra so on edge? did she have some hand in it? splinter recalled cassandra saying she had ‘had paola with her’ since she was seventeen and left ioavis, so...was paola created during that mess? 

immediately after breakfast, the boys begged to see cassandra’s spaceship, which is how they got here, standing in front a closet that was empty save for a thick brass pole.

“uh...why are we looking at an empty closet?” raph asked, confused.

“ah, but _is it_ just an empty closet?” cassandra asked, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. then, she reached her arm around and flipped a switch on the wall. suddenly, the floor in the closet fell away and a gust of cool air rushed up, making everyone but paola and cassandra shiver.

“whoa!” raph said, leaning forward to look at what was below the cabin. “it’s a trap door!”

paola put her arm out to stop him from leaning too far forward. “watch out- it’s a long way down,” she said.

“how are we supposed to get down there, though?” donnie said. all he could see was the brass pole- which it turned out was not brass at all, but rather to painted to look it- from floor level down, the pole is a harsh and pristine white.

“it’s a staircase- the stairs are just hidden for now, so that-” paola said, before she was cut off by cassandra jumping onto the pole and sliding down it, catching everyone off guard.

“cowabunga!” cassandra shouted, laughing joyously the whole way down, her voice echoing off cavern walls.

“-cassandra can do that,” paola finished with a sigh.

“i wanna go next!” raph shouted. the other turtles got ready to fight- to argue over who would be the next to slide down the pole, but were cut off by paola.

“no, absolutely not,” she said, shaking her head. “no one else is sliding down.”

“why not?” mikey whined.

“first of all, it’s far too deep. secondly, you’re all just kids,” paola said.

“and thirdly, it paola’s house, and she said no,” splinter added, backing up the robot.

again, paola seemed perplexed by him- he couldn’t figure out why, but he could practically feel her confusion and...almost irritation coming off of her.

before either of them could say anything, cassandra called up, “paola? is something wrong with the stairs?”

“no, they just want to slide down the pole,” paola shouted back.

“absolutely not,”  cassandra said, to which all the turtles groaned. “but turn it to second gear.”

“second gear?” paola said. “there is no second gear!”

“yes there is- just try it!” she called up. paola shrugged, and two of her fingers flew up to the top of the pole, where there were slots that they fit into perfectly, and she turned them once, then twice, like a key in a lock.

the pole whirred to life, segmented platforms emerging from the pole as it transformed into a spiral staircase. it took all of fifteen seconds for the entire pole to transform into a staircase, but after it was done, the platforms moved so they slanted up and connected to one another. at the same time, a thin barrier rose up around the outside of the staircase.

“it’s a slide,” paola said. she shook her head. “of course it is.”

“can we slide down it?” mikey asked excitedly, looking between his father and paola.

“i mean...that is what it’s there for,” paola said with a shrug. she looked at splinter, to see if he had any objections.

“it certainly beats walking down,” splinter agreed.

needing no further prompting, mikey and raph dove for the slide, howling with laughter the whole way down. donnie was more cautious, sitting down gently before pushing himself off, not making a sound but grinning as he picked up speed.

leo didn’t move towards the slide at all- he’d hung back the whole time, in fact. now that it was his turn, he was frozen with fear.

“leonardo? what’s wrong?” splinter asked, concerned looked on his face.

the turtle seemed hesitant, shifting his weight before he finally mumbled, “i’m scared.”

“of heights?” paola asked, to which leo nodded. “well, that’s perfectly reasonable. cassandra was afraid of heights for a long time.”

“really?” leo said, surprised. “she was?”

“mmhm,” paola said with a nod. “she spent a lot of time working through it.”

“would you feel better if i sat with you?” splinter asked.

“uh-huh,” leo replied, nodding.

splinter sat down at the top of the slide and leo crawled into his lap. he held onto his son with one hand, and pushed off with the other. they were off, and only once they were going down the slide did splinter realize just how high up they truly were- it had to be at least thirty meters deep. then, as they came spiralling down the slide, splinter turned his head and saw, for the very first time, cassandra’s ship.

it was huge- he figured it would be, but not quite this big. it was a sleek, grey ship that looked straight out of a science fiction movie. blue lights glowed softly from it, light lines looking like veins. there was a glass dome on top of the ship, halfway nestled into the center.

by the time splinter stopped gawking at the ship in amazement, they were at the end of the slide. leo hopped off, having surprisingly enjoyed the slide, but was far more excited about the space ship that awaited them.

“whoa!” he said, running over to the others who were waiting with cassandra, splinter trailing after him. only then did splinter notice _how_ the cavern was being lit up- four, huge balls of fire, spread out around them and the ship. they almost looked like miniature suns.

paola finally made it down the slide, skating over on wheels that were concealed in her legs before. they retracted back into her legs, and she walked over, but ultimately hung back from the rest of them.

there was a tension in splinter’s body that wasn’t there before- no else had seemed to notice it, but paola did. she followed his line of sight to the fireballs cassandra had created, and everything clicked.

paola remembered with a electronic clarity how cassandra had told her about the first time she’d met splinter in person- well, at the very least, the first time they’d been in close proximity. she’d been dropping off a care package, having just got back from a fire, and splinter had freaked out, sent into a panic attack at the smell of smoke. he’d told cassandra that there’d been a fire.

cassandra had likely either not put it together yet, or had simply forgotten because she hadn’t been told explicitly, but either way...she had to stop using her inclination so freely around splinter. paola knew cassandra too well- she could be an insufferable show off, and she’d been around splinter for four or five days now, which meant she must have done some stunt with her fire inclination to show off.

she was doing it even now, creating tiny birds made of fire shoot out of the tiny suns she had created. the boys were enthralled by it, but splinter merely crossed his arms, pulling into himself.

“ _ava_ ,” she thought, sending a message to the other ai. “ _open up the ship._ ”

“ _yes, paola_ ,” ava replied.

“ _thank you, ava_ ,” paola thought back, before walking over to cassandra, who had that excited look that made years melt away from her face. everyone else was distracted with the ship’s boarding ramp as paola tugged cassandra’s shirt, pulling the capellan back away from everyone, who were moving towards the ship anyway. she turned to look at paola, confused look on her face.

“ _we need to talk_ ,” paola sung low in capellan. the sudden change in languages only served to confuse cassandra farther.

“ _is it about the slide? i meant to tell you_ ,” she sung back, melody conveying puzzlement.

_“no, it’s about-”_

_“is it about her? can’t that wait- i don’t want to have this talk where they might hear it,”_ she replied, the tempo increasing and a new dissonance was present that denoted irritation and anxiety.

 _“no, let me finish my damn sentence!_ ” paola replied. “ _you’ve got to stop showing off your inclination around splinter, you’re scaring him.”_

cassandra seemed dumbstruck by this. “ _scaring him? what are you talking about?”_

 _“you’re freaking him out- he’s tense, his eyes keep going back to the fire nervously, and he’s drawing in on himself,”_ paola sung. _“i remember you mentioned he was -_ ”

 _“he’s freaked out by the smell of smoke- oh my god, i’m such an idiot,”_ cassandra said, putting at hand to her forehead. _“because he’d been in or around a fire- of course he’s scared.”_

_“relax, i don’t think he’s mad about it, just...scared. though i don’t know why he wouldn’t just say something about it- i’m assuming you’ve already shown off, right?”_

cassandra sighed and rubbed her face. _“yeah, i breathed fire to clear up some black ice. i mean...i guess i can understand why he wouldn’t say anything- it’s not like i give everyone my sob story every time glass breaks. it’s not always…”_

 _“...easy to talk about, i know,”_ paola replied. _“but...just tone it down from now on? keep it to tricks that don’t involve a lot of actual fire.”_

 _“yeah, of course,”_ cassandra agreed, nodding.

“hey! are you guys coming or what?” raph shouted, waving over from the ramp.

“we’re coming, we’re coming,” paola said, wheels popping out of her feet again as she skated over.

“why were you singing? and what language was that?” asked donnie, who, while amazed with the ship, was also very curious about what the two aliens had been talking about. he’d only caught bits of it- they were speaking so softly, he could barely hear them.

“that was capellan,” cassandra said, shrugging. “and that’s how you speak capellan- you sing it.”

“you sing it?” raph said, scrunching up his face skeptically.

“yeah,” cassandra said, gesturing for them to head on up the ramp. “capellan’s considered one of the hardest languages to learn because of it. there’s so many different ways to say -er, sing, i suppose- something, and each different melody has a different connotation to it.”

“the rest of the galaxy views capellan as one of the most pretentious languages because of that as well,” paola said, following behind splinter.

“pretentious?” leo echoed, confused.

“stuck up,” paola clarified, taking the lead and opening the door to the ship’s main corridor, the turtles oohing and aahing at every little thing.

cassandra shrugged as splinter waited for her to catch up to him. “she’s not wrong,” she said.

splinter and cassandra walked side by side, him taking in the white, rounded hallway- it was almost cold and sterile, contrasting sharply with, well, everything he thought of cassandra as.

“cassandra,” he said as he stopped walking, forcing cassandra to do the same once she’d noticed he wasn’t beside her. he didn’t mean to pry, but the way paola suddenly switched to capellan to talk to cassandra made him feel like she was trying to keep him out of the loop. if there was a problem, he wanted to know about it. “what...what were you and paola talking about just now?”

cassandra looked surprised at his question and stammered, “o-oh, that? it was- nothing.”

splinter was not convinced in the slightest, and he said gently, so as to not cause her to go on the defensive, “you’re a terrible liar, cassandra.”

cassandra sighed, and nodded as she crossed her arms. “yeah, i know.”

“so?” splinter said, crossing his own arms. “if there’s a problem-”

“there’s not- it’s not with you or about you. it’s...something between me and paola,” cassandra said, her lie much more convincing this time.

“are you and paola...doing alright? you seem to be fighting a lot in the last two days,” splinter asked, concerned.

“we’re not fighting, it’s just...complicated. paola means well,” cassandra said, trying to figure out how best to explain it, without actually telling him about what they had been arguing over yesterday.

splinter seemed satisfied with her vague answer- at the very least, he let the matter drop, and the two of them walked into the common room where everyone else was waiting. as soon as he entered the room, splinter stopped, eyes wide as he looked around, and his breath caught in his throat.

the curved walls were painted, from floor to ceiling. they were lavender fields at night, he realized. there were mountains in the distance, and a star filled sky just above it. it was truly breathtaking.

“holy moly, paola!” cassandra said, who hadn’t seen the painting before either. “this is amazing!”

splinter snapped out of his stupor at that. “paola? you made this?” he said, surprise and amazement clear in his voice.

“i- yes?” paola said, confused at his reaction. “it certainly wasn’t cassandra.”

“this is incredible!” splinter said, an impressed smile on his face. “i had no idea you were an artist. how long have you been an artist? and why did you choose lavender fields as your subject?”

“were you programmed to be an artist?” donnie asked, looking over his shoulder as he walked over to cassandra.

paola was surprised at splinter’s enthusiasm- while cassandra supported her wholeheartedly, and loved everything paola made, there was still the doubt in the back of her mind that said cassandra was only being a good friend. especially since paola knew that art was different on capella. so to have someone who was practically a stranger- or, even better, someone who had a reason to dislike her after the way she’d yelled at him during that fiasco two days ago- to have him be so amazed and enthusiastic about her art...it was nice.

“i wasn’t programmed to be an artist- well, this kind of artist, anyway. i was programmed to be a musician. that part of my coding- the part that was supposed to give me a purpose and the knowledge necessary to fulfill it- was heavily damaged when i was...created, i suppose would be the best word, and as such i...have no pre-programmed purpose,” paola said with a shrug. “as for how long, it’s...it was three years after i was created, right?”

she turned to cassandra, who was terrible at remembering when exactly things happened- everything blurred together after a while, and dates were meaningless to her. events and places were remembered, not dates or even years.

“well, we were on pyrrah, so...probably?” cassandra said with a shrug.

“yeah, so it was about fourteen years ago then,” paola said. “and as for why lavender fields...well, i just thought they were really beautiful when we saw them in france.”

“hey- wait!” mikey said, face scrunched up in thought. “you lived in france, right? and the other augur- the human one, she was french. did you go to france because that’s where the other augur lived?”

cassandra nodded. “yeah, that’s right. there’s this...kinship would be the best word, I think- amongst augurs, and-”

“kinship?” mikey repeated.

“yeah, like...it feels like...we have this sort of bond- a connection,” cassandra said, unsure how to explained the connection she felt with other augurs. over in their corner of the room, splinter and paola continued talking about art, oblivious to the conversation cassandra and the turtles were having.

“so would that make that super powerful augur- what was her name again?” raph asked, trying to recall.

“you mean thea?” cassandra asked, a strange look crossing her face.

“yeah- if she teaches everyone and looks out for everyone-” raph started before cassandra cut him off.

“let me stop you there. thea does not look out for anyone. if i made her sound too...kind and caring, then that was my fault,” cassandra said, her expression growing dark and tone bitter.

“but..she can see all the augurs futures, and she helps you and teaches you, right?” leo asked, confused.

cassandra sighed, looking incredibly weary all of the sudden. “thea...she can see our futures. but, in an attempt to be neutral- to not take sides...she doesn’t _do_ anything with that information. she just...lets bad things happen, instead of helping people.”

the four turtles were silent as they absorbed that. after a while, leo spoke up. “so, is _that_ why you help people with your powers?”

cassandra considered it, then nodded. “yeah, that’s part of it. if i have the power to change things, to help people...then i feel that i should. i...certainly wish someone had done the same for me.”

“so you really are like a superhero!” leo said, the suspicions he’d had since the very beginning confirmed. an alien with powers and a tragic backstory, come to earth to help people! maybe she didn’t get into big fights like other heroes, but she was still just as cool in his eyes.

* * *

 the rest of the day passed quickly, with cassandra showing off every inch of her ship- the turtles would allow for nothing less. as they explored it, however, it became glaringly obvious just how big the ship was...far too big for one capellan and a robot.

“can we please try floating next time?” raph whined as they left the glass dome that splinter had seen from the slide.

it’s proper name was the gravity chamber- a room where gravity could be increased or decreased artificially, to help capellans get used to the gravity of the planets they were traveling to. cassandra, however, liked to use it to simply float, turning off the gravity altogether.

“i don’t see why not,” cassandra said with a shrug. “it’s just too late for that stuff now.”

all the turtles groaned- no one wanted to go to bed after such an exciting day. groans gave way to yawns, however. no matter how much they wanted to stay awake, they were quite tired.

as they walked back to the entrance of the ship, mikey tugged on his father’s robe, before asking, “papa, did you bring the book you were reading to us before? cuz i was wondering if you could read some more of it to us.”

splinter shook his head. “i’m afraid not- it was the last thing on mind, with everything happening so quickly…”

“what book?” cassandra asked, curious.

“oh- the one you gave us, actually. i’ve only read a few chapters to them, and-” splinter stopped when he turned to see cassandra’s downright gleeful expression. “...what?”

“i have a copy of it here! let me go grab it,” she said, running back into her ship and disappearing around a corner. “wait right there!”

about three seconds later, she popped back out, holding onto the wall. “actually, go on up. it might take me a bit to find it. but i know i have it! somewhere…”

so, after one very long walk back up the staircase, and a good fifteen minutes after that, all the turtles were tucked into the bed- which hadn’t been moved from it’s place in the living room. cassandra came bursting out of the closet, breathing heavily.

“got it!” she said through gasps of air, waving the book triumphantly.

“did you run all the way up the staircase?” paola asked incredulously.

“yes,” cassandra deadpanned. she walked over to splinter, handing him the book. “here you go.”

splinter took the book, considered it, then handed it back to cassandra. when she gave him a confused look, he explained, “why don’t _you_ read some tonight? you obviously enjoy the book very much, and i don’t think the boys would mind.”

this, of course, got the turtles’ attention. each and every one of them gave her puppy dog eyes, and if cassandra wasn’t already more than happy to read for them, she would have melted anyway.

a bright smile graced her face, and she sat down on the floor next to the mattress, with her back leaning up against the sofa.

“where were you at?” she asked splinter, opening the book.

he thought back- it had been quite a while since he’d read it to them, then said, “i believe abigail’s grandmother had just finished telling her and edward that story.”

“oh good, you’re not that far yet! i haven’t missed all the good bits,” cassandra said, knowing the book by heart by now, and turning to the chapter in question. with a deep breath, she started to read.

it would seem that splinter’s earlier assessment of cassandra being a good storyteller proved to be true- she held the book in one hand, and acted it out with the other. her voice was animated and enthralling- her expressions exaggerated as she spoke. the chapter was, aside from the ending, very mundane. but the way cassandra told it made it seem like the most important thing in the world.

“ _so it was that edward did not go flying back into the dirty hands of martin_ ,” cassandra said, building the suspense. “ _instead, edward tulane went overboard._ ”

and then she shut the book.

“w-what?!” raph exclaimed, as cassandra got up. “that can’t be it! we gotta know what happens to edward!”

cassandra shrugged, a smug grin on her face. “that’s the end of the chapter. you’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”

the turtles pouted as splinter and cassandra left the room- it was too early for _them_ to go to bed, after all.

“night, everyone!” cassandra said pleasantly, to which they all grumbled back.

after sitting at the kitchen table, with paola joining them shortly after, splinter turned to cassandra and asked, “so...what does happen to edward?”

cassandra looked at him for a minute, then started laughing, and shook her head. “i’m not telling you! you’re gonna have to wait.”

splinter gave her a look of disbelief. “wait, really? you’re not going to tell me?”

“no!” she said through laughter.

splinter huffed good naturedly. “i can’t believe this- you won’t tell me anything at all? cassandra, i _must_ know if this china rabbit is going to be okay.”

cassandra only shook her head, her laughter dying down into giggles.

* * *

 

“i still can’t believe you didn’t tell me about the slide,” paola said. it was very late- or very early, depending on one’s perspective. the clock on the stove read two thirty four in the morning, and cassandra had yet to sleep.

“like i said, i certainly meant to,” cassandra said, holding a mug of hot chocolate. “i guess i got caught up in fixing up the rest of the cabin, and forgot to mention it.”

there was a silence, before paola commented, “i had no idea splinter loved art so much.”

“really?” cassandra asked, eyebrow raised.

“really,” paola said, nodding.

“nothing gave it away. nothing at all?”

“no...why, is there some big give away?” paola asked, confused.

“paola- he named his kids after four renaissance artists!” cassandra said.

paola was silent for a few minutes, before resting her head on the flat ends of her arms. “oh my god.”

“did you really _never_ make that connection? i should think it’d be obvious,” cassandra said, mimicking paola’s tone from that morning.

“alright, alright, i deserved that. i can’t believe i didn’t put it together,” paola said, putting her arms down and shaking her head.

cassandra’s smirk faded when she heard a whimper come from the living room- a glance at paola told her that she’d heard it too. quietly, cassandra got up and walked to the doorway, paola following behind her.

splinter was...well, he wasn’t quite thrashing about, but his head kept moving to back and forth, and his jaw was clenched.

“he’s having a nightmare,” paola noted. “is he going to wake up?”

cassandra took a second, looking ahead, then nodded. “yeah- i’m gonna try to wake him up gently- maybe having a familiar face when he wakes up will help.”

she walked over behind the sofa- she didn’t want to shake him awake, that might only make things worse. instead, she said his name softly, each time getting a little bit louder, careful not to accidentally wake the kids.

splinter’s eyes flew open, and he sat up, catching cassandra off guard. she leaned back, giving him space to get his bearings. he looked around, seemingly confused at first, then turned look at cassandra.

“cassandra?” he asked quietly, his voice hoarse. when he saw her, he seemed to be even more puzzled.

“yeah, it’s me,” she said, concerned look on her face. “are you okay?”

he took a few minutes to calm himself, before replying, “i will be fine.”

“okay...but that’s not what i asked,” she said.

splinter seemed reluctant to answer, and after a pause said, “it was just a bad dream, that’s all.”

cassandra held in a sigh- this was going nowhere fast. “...paola made hot chocolate- we’ve been sitting in the kitchen talking. you’re more than welcome to join us, if you don’t think you can get back to sleep.”

splinter nodded. “yes, that would be nice,” he said, standing up. “cassandra...why are you wearing glasses?”

“oh, these?” she said, pushing up the aforementioned spectacles. “i usually wear contacts, and i’d honestly thought i’d lost these but...i found them today looking for the book.”

splinter nodded, but didn’t say anything else and followed cassandra back into the kitchen. paola had retreated from the doorway, and was sitting on one of the tall stools. when she saw splinter come in, she hopped off, and headed to the stove to heat up the hot chocolate. splinter and cassandra sat across from one another, an awkward silence hanging in the air.

“looks like the blizzard’s started,” cassandra said, looking out the kitchen window and drumming her fingertips on the table.

splinter turned around to follow her gaze, then nodded halfheartedly. he looked very shaken by whatever his nightmare had been- his ears drooped and he seemed very distracted.

so, cassandra offered what she’d want after a nightmare. “do you want a hug?” she asked.

splinter seemed very caught off guard by her offer. “w-what?” he replied, sitting up straighter.

“i get the feeling you don’t want to talk about it, but you look like you could really use a hug,” cassandra explained, before repeating, “do you want a hug?”  

“i...yes, that would be nice,” he said at last. cassandra got up and walked around to splinter’s side of the table, then wrapped her arms around him. it was awkward and stiff for a moment, before splinter relaxed and wrapped his arms around her as well, head resting on her shoulder.

he was struck by just how warm and comforting cassandra’s embrace was- the radiating warmth he’d felt in passing was so much stronger, and all the tension in his body seemed to melt away in the face of it. there was something else cassandra’s hug evoked in him-it was harder to place, but after a few moments he figured it out- he felt safe, like nothing bad would happen so long as cassandra was around.

when was the last time he had felt so safe and secure in someone else’s arms? he thought back…it had been a very long time.

a full three minutes passed, with neither of them making any sign of wanting the hug to end. paola merely turned back around, and let them have their moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GOSH it's been a long time, huh? Thank you all for your patience, and I hope this chapter is worth the wait! Please tell me what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which everyone starts to warm up to each other a little bit more

“cassandra?” mikey asked, running up to the alien, who was currently lounging on the couch reading. he crawled up on top of her, wiggling his way between her and her book.

 “yes, mikey?” cassandra said with an amused smile. on the other end of the room, splinter sat, seemingly deep in meditation. the boys had been playing hide n seek for about an hour and a half now, giving the adults some time to themselves. however, every time mikey was found, he would run to cassandra and ask her more questions about space.

 so far he’d asked about the food in space, whether she’d seen a star up close, and what music was like on capella if you sang everything you said anyway.

 “what was your mama like?” he asked, sky blue eyes shining with curiosity.

 “which one?” she asked, eyebrow raised.

 “well- uh, both i guess. but especially the dragon one.” he sheepishly admitted, “i forgot her name. but it must have been really cool- to have a dragon mom!”

 “her name was evelyn,” cassandra said, closing her book and putting it down on the ground next  to the couch. “and she was _very_ cool. she was the more...relaxed of my mothers, and to be honest, i was much closer to her than my other mother- her name was cammilyn. that’s because mama- evelyn, i called evelyn ‘mama’ and cammilyn ‘mother’- she became a stay at home parent when they adopted me.”

 “what did your other mama do then?” mikey asked.

“she was one of the most brilliant political philosophers of her time,” cassandra said, an undertone to her voice reminiscent of a child in awe of their seemingly untouchable parent. 

“what does that mean?” he asked, confused. 

“well...she thought a lot about what it means to be free, people’s rights, how the government should interact with those things, and how the government should protect them,” cassandra  said, trying her best to explain it.

“so she just sat around thinking all day?”

“no, she did a lot more than just think all day,” cassandra said with a laugh. “she taught at a university, and wrote a lot of essays, but what she really excelled at was giving these amazing, passionate speeches.”

“that sounds boring,” raph said, crawling up over the back of the couch, and falling down onto cassandra, just barely missing mikey.

“donnie found you too, huh?” mikey said, to which raph scowled.

“yeah- but i’ve got a really great hiding place for next time,” raph said, undeterred. “ _no one’s_ gonna be able to find me!”

“where is it?” mikey asked excitedly.

“i’m not telling you!” raph sneered, crossing his arms.

mikey pouted, and was about to reply when leo and donnie came running in.

“c’mon guys, let's go!” leo said excitedly. “i’m ‘it’ this time!”

both of the boys rolled off cassandra and followed their brothers- that is until cassandra put her hand on raph’s shoulder to stop him. mikey went on ahead and raph turned to look at cassandra with a confused expression on his face.

“hey, you should really...be nicer to your brother,” cassandra said, her expression both concerned and stern at the same time. she hoped she wasn't overstepping her bounds, but...she really didn't want to just let it go.

“whaddaya mean?” raph asked, brow furrowed.

“the way you spoke to him, just now,” cassandra said, sitting up putting her feet on the ground. “you didn't have to be like that.”

“but i don't wanna share my hiding spot with him!” he protested, cheeks puffed out and hands balled into fists.”i found it, i shouldn't _have_ to share it!”

“i never said you had to share it, did i?” cassandra asked, eyebrow raised.

raph paused, before replying, “n-no...but you were gonna, right?”

cassandra shook her head. “nope. hey, i wouldn't tell anyone my hiding spot if i were you either. but you could have said ‘no’ a whole lot nicer than you did.”

“how?” raph asked, crossing his arms.

“well...you could have said, ‘it's a secret!’ or ‘you’ll just have to find out!’ you could have even said what you did say, just in a different tone,” cassandra said, then added in a singsong voice, “‘i’m not telling you!’ something like that. it's not what you say, it's-”

“-how you say it,” raph said, in the voice of a child who'd heard that phrase a million times. “dad says that too.”

“well, he’s right. now, go play! just don't forget what we talked about, okay?” cassandra said with a smile.

after raph ran out of the room for another round of ‘hide and seek’, cassandra resumed reading her book and paola walked in. she looked around, then her gaze fixed on splinter. 

“is he asleep?” paola asked, pointing at him. 

cassandra looked up from her book, then over to splinter. she shook her head and said, “i don’t think so. he said he was meditating.”   
  
“he had trouble sleeping last night, so i thought he might be asleep,” paola said, walking around to the back of the couch and standing by cassandra.   
  
“nah, i don’t think anyone could sleep sitting up with their back that perfectly straight,” cassandra said with a shrug.   
  
“you said he snores too, so he’s probably awake,” paola replied.   
  
“well, he didn’t snore last night, so maybe he doesn’t snore all the time.”   
  
“fair point- oh, wait one of his ears twitched. yeah, he’s awake,” paola said, pointing at the ear that had twitched. before, splinter had worn a neutral expression; however over the course of cassandra and paola’s conversation, it transformed into a frown.

“you know, it’s rude to talk about people behind their back,” he said, finally opening his eyes.

“is it _really_ behind your back if you’re right there, and both of us knew you might be awake?” paola countered.

splinter turned to face the two of them, looking at paola with a deadpan expression. paola seemed completely unaffected by this, and merely leaned forward onto the back of the couch, turning her attention back to cassandra.

“when the storm passes, you’re going to need to go get groceries,” she said, and cassandra nodded.

“i figured,” she replied with a shrug. she was about to turn back to her book when she noticed splinter looking at them, who looked away as soon as she caught his gaze. he looked terribly out of place- like he wasn’t quite sure what to do.

“c’mere,” cassandra said, tucking her legs in and patting the spot next to her. splinter blinked, his eyes glancing around the room, as if there was someone else cassandra might be speaking to.

after a beat, he got up and crossed the room, sitting back down next to cassandra, with paola standing behind them both. there was an awkward silence at first, before splinter spoke up.

“what are you reading?” he asked politely.

“stardust, by neil gaiman,” cassandra replied, holding the book so he could see the cover.  “it’s a fantasy novel. it’s pretty good.”

“do you read a lot of fantasy?” he asked curiously, to which cassandra shrugged.

“not really- i really prefer sci fi books over other genres,” she replied, folding over the corner of her book and setting it down in her lap.

“as in...science fiction about space?” splinter asked, eyebrow raised. “why? you already know what it’s like.”

“yeah, but it’s still interesting to know what earthlings imagine space is like,” cassandra countered. “besides- earthlings read historical fiction, don’t they? or historical fantasy?”

“you have a point,” splinter conceded with a nod. he turned his head a bit to look at paola, to ask her...something. he felt bad leaving her out of conversation. just then, however, mikey came running into the room, giggling as he made a beeline for cassandra.

“cassandra!” he shouted, a smile on his face. “oh- hi papa!”

he was surprised to see his father sitting next to her and paola standing behind the couch, but crawled up into the alien’s lap anyway. he looked up at her with bright inquisitive eyes and an excited smile.

“inside voice, michelangelo,” splinter said, to which mikey nodded distractedly in response.

“i wanted to ask you about keandra,” mikey turning to face cassandra. “you said that you n’ keandra are the last capellans that the rest of the galaxy know about, right?”

“well, yeah, but...how much have i told you about pyrrah?” cassandra asked.

“uh...nothing,” mikey said, thinking back.

“you have not told me anything either,” splinter said, his curiosity piqued.

“alright, well, pyrrah was capella’s greatest ally before…” cassandra trailed off- not because it was difficult to talk about, but because she knew she’d have to explain seventy years worth of capellan history if she didn’t keep things vague. “...before capella was destroyed. keandra and i were best friends before capella fell, but one thing led to another and we were separated in the chaos. he ended up on another ship, with two very bad people driving it.”

mikey gasped softly. “were they gonna hurt him?”

cassandra nodded, expression solemn. “one of them was, before the other stopped her. see, the three of them believed they were the last capellans in existence, so the...better of the two of them wanted to...dump keandra off somewhere safe, and-”

“and that was pyrrah, right?” mikey interrupted.

“michelangelo, do not interrupt,” splinter said gently.

cassandra shrugged at splinter- it wasn’t that big of a deal to her, and said, “yeah, it was pyrrah! they left him on pyrrah, and keandra was brought forth before the king of pyrrah, who was greatly distressed to know of capella’s destruction. the king took in keandra as her little brother-”

“wait, the king was a girl?” mikey asked curiously.

“mmhm! on pyrrah, whoever ruled the planet was called the king, regardless of gender,” cassandra explained. “so, keandra was adopted into the royal family, and became...sort of an honorary prince. he’d never hold real political power, but he was still given the title and raised as a prince.”

“your best friend is a prince?!” mikey asked, wide eyed and amazed. “did you get to stay in the castle?”

“we did,” cassandra said with a grin. “it was really awesome.”

something felt...forced about her whole demeanor, and when paola spoke up, splinter found out why.

“yeah, it was awesome until the attack during that ball,” paola said sarcastically. mikey turned around, climbing out of cassandra’s lap so he could stand on the couch and face paola.

“what attack? what happened?” he asked.

“well, some people didn’t like the king because of the things her father had done. they didn’t want any of her family ruling pyrrah, so they...tried to remove her by force,” paola explained with a shrug. “things got...dangerous and tense for a while. but between cassandra and the king’s personal bodyguard, who was also an augur...everything got sorted out eventually.”

“after all that drama, keandra came with us when we moved on from pyrrah,” cassandra said, running a hand through her hair. “he stayed with us for a few years before we found new capella. after that...he decided to stay on new capella.”

splinter opened his mouth to speak, to question why keandra stayed and cassandra didn’t, but was suddenly overwhelmed by anger.

it was as if someone had dug deeply into an old wound, bringing up a bitter anger- but...but this wasn’t _his_ anger. he had no reason to be this angry, there was no lead up to it, and everything about what he was feeling felt **wrong** , as if…

...as if they weren’t his emotions at all.

but if this was like before- where he was feeling someone else’s emotions- then...whose was it? cassandra? if keandra had chosen to stay because he and cassandra had had a falling out, then that made sense. but cassandra spoke of him so fondly...no, it couldn’t be her.

michelangelo then? while he could understand frustration over constantly being the first one found in their games, this vivid anger was too far out of character for his carefree son.

that left paola. splinter turned to look at the robot, his heart pounding in his chest like a drum. could it be her? she was the only one left, but...nothing would give her away. she had no facial expressions for him to pick up on, and her body language was always mechanical.

paola must have felt his eyes on her, because she turned her head to meet his gaze and said, somewhat tersely, “what?”

“n-...nothing,” splinter said, deeply uncomfortable. the fact that he was now certain of where the anger was coming from didn’t make it much easier to bear, and the strangeness of feeling so vividly a secondhand emotion only served to make him more uneasy.

he stood up suddenly, surprising both cassandra and mikey. he scrambled for an excuse, but...he needed to get out of there. get out of paola’s presence. “please excuse me,” he said, to which cassandra shrugged and nodded. he darted out of the room, leaving behind a very confused mikey, cassandra and paola.

“that was weird,” mikey said with a tiny frown on his face.

cassandra shrugged again and said, “adults are weird.”

“cassandra, _you’re_ an adult,” mikey said, giggling.

“yeah, that’s how i know,” she replied with a grin, gently booping his snout. just then, donnie came trudging into the living room and plopped down on the couch where splinter had been sitting moments before.

“whoa, leo found you before he found raph? where were you hiding?” mikey asked, turning towards his brother.

“i was hiding in the cabinet under the sink,” donnie said, pouting. being found was one thing, but being found before raph was another matter altogether.

“yeah...maybe don’t do that,” paola said with a deadpan concern. “it’s not the cleanest under there.”

“oh! that’s right!” mikey said, standing up on the couch and facing paola again. “what’s it’s like?”

“what’s what like?” paola asked, confused.

“where you’re from!” mikey chirped.

“oh,” paola said flatly. “i don’t really have one of those.”

“one of those what?” mikey asked, puzzled.

“a place where i’m from,” she said with a shrug.

mikey and donnie looked at each other, concerned expressions on their face. “but...that’s sad,” mikey said. “you don’t have a home planet? i mean… you don’t have a mama or papa because you’re a robot, right? but you don’t have anywhere to go back to?”

“i was created in space,” paola explained. “...i suppose the... _place_ where my coding originally came from was ioavis, but...i’ve never been to ioavis, and i don’t particularly like the planet.”

“how can you not like the planet if you’ve never been there?” donnie asked, tone somewhere between skeptical and confused.

“trust me,” paola said, a disgusted tone in her voice. “i know.”

the two turtles decided to leave it at that- both put off by paola’s tone and how uncomfortable cassandra looked. donnie’s gaze caught on cassandra’s forearms and he remembered something he’d been meaning to ask for a while now.

“cassandra?” donnie asked, looking up at her. she raised an eyebrow in response, and donnie continued, “what do the tattoos on your arms say? that’s capellan writing, right?”

cassandra looked impressed, and nodded. “that’s right. how did you know that?”

“oh- well...that’s...it was in one of the books in your bin. i saw it when…” donnie trailed off awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“when you rummaged through her stuff?” paola filled in, trying to keep the snark out of her voice. donnie nodded mutely, looking guilty.

“well, the one on my left arm says, ‘happiness is not something you find. it is something you build,’ and the one on my right arm says, ‘we are the universe itself, seeking out and rediscovering itself,’” cassandra said, ignoring the brought up incident from a few nights ago.

“what’s the second one mean?” mikey said, tracing the ink on cassandra’s right arm. “capellans are the universe?”

“no- that’s not…” cassandra said, trying to figure out how to explain it. she seemed to get an idea, and looked back at paola for permission.

paola, knowing exactly type of presentation cassandra wanted to do with her pyrokinesis, shook her head. “no- another time, _maybe_.”

cassandra pouted like a child, but didn’t protest. “alright, so, when the whole universe was created-”

“during the big bang,” donnie said, interrupting her.

this threw cassandra off, who was winding herself up for a long, excited explanation. “uh. yeah,” she said, nodding.

paola, sensing that donnie would continue to interject, decided to act. he was trying to show off what he knew, however...while cassandra was genuinely trying to explain what her tattoo meant, she was also trying to show off what she knew.

paola tapped donnie on the shoulder with one of her fingers, her arms remaining crossed on the back of the couch. “when she gets like this, it’s best to just let her ramble,” paola said, leaning in close to ‘whisper’ in donnie’s ear.

however, cassandra could hear the whole thing and frowned at paola, mildly hurt by paola’s words.

“oh, come on, cassandra” paola said, knowing the capellan had taken the words to heart. “you know i love it when you ramble. but you’re just going to get scrambled if people interrupt you.”

cassandra huffed, but continued. “anyway, when the whole universe was created in the big bang, the stuff- the uh, building blocks, that make up you and me, and everything else- it wasn’t...in the right shapes to make up the stuff we have now. those building blocks were made in the hearts of stars, and when those stars died, they exploded, sending the right building blocks out into the universe. almost everything there is- you, and me- everything that makes us up was either created at the same time in the big bang, or was formed in the hearts of stars. and who knows- maybe parts of me and parts of you came from the same star.”

“so we’re all made of star bits?” mikey asked, bright blue eyes wide with wonder.

“more or less. and because of this, the universe isn’t really a _place_ to capellans. it’s everything in it. we’re part of the universe, rather than just being in it,” she explained. “so when we say we’re rediscovering ourselves, that’s referring to how capellans are explorers, always venturing further into the unknown.”

“whoa…” mikey said, amazed.

“that’s...a pretty cool way of thinking about it,” donnie said, offering cassandra a genuine smile.

she beamed back at him, happy at how he seemed to be warming up to her. “i think so too.”

“that much should be obvious, you got it tattooed on your arm,” paola said sarcastically.

cassandra turned and frowned at paola. “do you always have to have the last word?” she asked.

“yes,” paola replied, matter-of-fact.

“cassandra?” donnie asked, remembering something he’d been meaning to ask. “what happened to ca-”

“i can’t find raph anywhere!” leo wailed as he ran into the living room. cassandra got up immediately, placing mikey on the ground as she went over to figure out what was wrong.

“whoa, whoa, whoa,” cassandra said, kneeling in front of leo as frustrated tears started streaming down his face. “what’s wrong kiddo?”

“i can’t find raph!” he repeated, rubbing his eyes. “i’ve looked everywhere! i’ve looked upstairs in all the bedrooms, i’ve looked in the closet, i’ve looked in the cabinets, and i’ve even looked under the beds!”

“okay, leo, calm down,” cassandra said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “we’ll find him, don’t worry.”

just as cassandra was standing up, splinter re-entered the room, concerned expression on his face. “cassandra, what’s going on?”

“leo can’t find raph,” cassandra said.

“is that all?” splinter said, without really mean to speak aloud.

“i’ve looked everywhere, sensei!” leo wailed, now even more worked up. splinter immediately regretted saying something.

“i understand, leonardo, but getting upset is not going to help us find him, is it?” splinter said, to which leo nodded reluctantly.

“let’s divide and conquer,” paola said, pointing two fingers at donnie and mikey. “you two should check upstairs again- maybe we just need some fresh eyes on the job.”

donnie and mikey nodded and ran up the stairs, and paola turned to leo. “double check the cabinets and closets- maybe he’s changing his hiding spot,” paola said. leo sniffled and walked away.

cassandra and splinter looked at each other, then paola, who abruptly turned towards them, and motioned for them to come closer.

“come here,” she said, and while splinter and cassandra did come closer, there was still a huge gulf between paola, and other two who towered over her. she repeated herself, more insistently this time, “come here! i don’t want them hearing this!”

that alarmed both splinter and cassandra, who leaned down so they were at head level with paola.

“what are you thinking, paola?” cassandra asked quietly.

“i’m thinking ‘how likely is it that raph would try to slide down the pole to the cavern on his own?’” she whispered.

the blood drained from their faces as splinter and cassandra looked at each other, then back at paola. the mood in the room dropped immediately, as images of what might have happened ran through both of their minds.

“extremely likely,” splinter said, voice filled with dread.

“i’ll go check the cavern,” cassandra murmured, to which splinter nodded, straightening up as well. paola, who wasn’t quite done talking, reached out and placed her fingers on each of them, the same way one might reach out to touch someone’s arm and-

and it happened again.

each of their anxieties and fears concerning raphael was pushed across that unplanned and unwanted connection. all of those emotions- the terror, the apprehension, the grim hope that they were wrong- all of it was magnified, feeding into itself until it became far too much for the three of them to manage.

and on top of all that fear concerning raphael, there was something more. a different fear. a different anxiety. it ripped through the trio with the force of a hurricane, unknowable and incomprehensible to all but one of them- to the owner of that fear and anxiety.

after what felt like hours, paola ripped her fingers away, drawing them close to their resting spot on the ends of her arms and clenching and unclenching them, over and over.

cassandra was left cold and clammy, her palms sweaty and breathing uneven. splinter was no better off, gasping for breath after that intense, unpleasant experience. his legs felt weak and he knew he was trembling.

“it happened again,” cassandra said, recognizing what it was. “but that…”

“that was terrible,” splinter breathed out. “everything just…”

“fed into itself,” paola finished, the robot sounding very shaken herself. “let’s...deal with this later. but..whoever it is- whoever the empath is- you need to figure this out. or this is just going to keep happening.”

splinter and cassandra looked at each other, and each of them nodded.

“let’s just...go check the cavern,” cassandra said shakily.

“hey!” mikey yelled from the hallway. “did anyone check behind this locked door?”

“locked door?” cassandra said confused, but rushing to the hallway nonetheless. “we didn’t lock any…”

paola and splinter followed her, and when cassandra saw the door he was referring to, cassandra frowned. hope bloomed in her chest- neither paola nor cassandra locked that door, so perhaps…

“the greenhouse. i don’t lock that door,” paola said, looking up at cassandra.

“but maybe raph did,” cassandra suggested, her voice hushed. one of paola’s fingers floated towards the lock, with what appeared to be a key sliding out from the middle of it. she unlocked the door, and cassandra rushed inside, splinter hot on her heels.

the greenhouse was bright and warm, and filled with sunflowers.

“...okay i guess,” splinter heard raph mumble from the far corner of the greenhouse.

he rushed over to the source of the voice, and sure enough, raph was sitting in front of what looked like an old wash bin that was half full of water, and had large rocks one side, sticking out of the water. inside was a tiny...turtle, of all things, that raph appeared to be talking to.

raph seemed to sense their presence, and turned around. he looked confused, both at their presence and at the looks on their faces.

“uh...hey,” raph said. he looked back at the normal, tiny turtle and scooped him up, showing him to his father and cassandra. “i made a new friend! his name’s spike.”

“that’s herbert,” paola corrected, walking over and joining splinter and cassandra, with the rest of the turtles following after her.

leo’s cheeks were puffed out in a pout as he ran up to his brother. “you can’t lock the door, that’s against the rules!” he whined, stomping his foot.

“says who?” raph demanded not even looking up from his new friend.

“says me,” cassandra said firmly, surprising everyone. “no locking the doors during hide and seek.”

splinter nodded, backing her up, and raph pouted, but didn’t protest any further. “okay,” he mumbled.

“so you were sitting in here, talking to a baby turtle?” mikey asked, walking up to see said turtle. “that’s adorable!”

“shu-” raph started before cassandra coughed loudly, drawing raph’s attention to her.

she raised an eyebrow, as if daring him to finish that sentence. raph remembered what they had talked about earlier, and sighed.

“be quiet, mikey,” raph said, voice less angry this time. then he added, his voice barely above a mumble, “p-please.”

he looked to cassandra for approval, and she nodded. it was a start.

“paola, you said his name was herbert?” donnie said, glancing between the turtle and the robot.

“that’s right,” paola affirmed, nodding. “he was just a hatchling this summer- he was being attacked by some birds or something, so i brought him here until he got better. by then it was too late to put him back outside- it was already winter.”

“i remember telling you that paola looked after turtles,” cassandra said to splinter, “but i probably forgot to tell them.”

“i remember you telling me,” splinter said, nodding.

“so herbert-” leo started, talking to paola, before raph cut him off.

“his name’s not herbert! it’s spike!” raph exclaimed, cheeks puffed out.

paola turned toward raph, arms crossed. “and how do you know that?”

“uh...he told me!” raph said, holding herbert up to eye level with paola.

“he told you,” paola deadpanned. “herbert told you that his name’s not herbert, and is, in fact, spike?”

cassandra bit her lip, waiting for paola to say something mean or sarcastic. splinter tensed next to her, apparently ready for the same thing.

“yeah!” raph said, more confident and aggressive this time.

paola looked at herbert, then raph, then herbert again.

finally, she spoke to herbert. “spike, i’m very sorry i’ve been calling you by the wrong name all these months, but if your name wasn’t herbert, you should have spoken up sooner,” paola said to the tiny turtle.

cassandra and splinter blinked, then looked at each other, their expressions of surprise mirroring each other’s. raph blinked, not expecting that response either, but he quickly recovered, and beamed at the robot.

“can i keep him?” he asked, looking from his father to paola.

“spike is paola’s pet, raphael. you can’t just take someone else’s pet,” splinter said, bracing himself for raph’s inevitable tantrum. “besides, a pet is a very big responsibility.”

paola seemed thoughtful, and said, “well, he could take care of spike while he stays here. almost like a test run. and like i’ve said, i was going to release him back out by the lake, so if raph wants to keep him...he can.”

raph looked at his father with pleading eyes, and while paola’s idea was a good one, he couldn’t help but feel backed into a corner.

“alright,” he relented. “if you take care of spike well until we leave, then perhaps i’ll allow you to bring him home with us.”

“yes!” raph shouted, fist pumping in the air as he held spike with his other hand. he was gonna take super good care of spike- better than paola, even- so he could bring his new friend home.

* * *

“okay,” cassandra said, hopping off the chair with a hammer in hand. “now we just need to drape the sheet over the couches and the blanket fort will be done.”

the living room was in complete disarray, with blankets and pillows everywhere, and, most recently, a sheet was hanging by a string from the ceiling. the mattress that the boys had been sleeping on had been brought back upstairs- it was too big for their pillow fort, and splinter and cassandra had planned for everyone to move in the bedrooms upstairs anyway.

however, the question of who was to sleep on the couch remained as hotly debated as ever, with splinter saying he didn’t want to put her out of her bedroom in the cabin for three months, and cassandra insisting that he was the guest and should sleep in the bedroom. 

in the end, cassandra won.

“did you use to make blanket forts when you were a kid?” leo asked, arranging the pillows inside the canopy.

“mmhm!” cassandra hummed. as she finished up with the blanket fort, she talked happily about how she used to build blanket forts with her mother during blizzards when she was child- and while she was doing that, splinter approached paola.

“i wanted to thank you, paola,” splinter started, before paola looked up and cut him off.

“for what?” she asked.

“for humoring raphael about spike telling him his name,” splinter clarified.

“what,” paola deadpanned.

“...what?” splinter echoed, confused.

“so you’re telling me he can’t _actually_ speak to non mutated turtles?” paola asked, voice full of disbelief.

splinter was stunned into silence, and struggled to figure out how to respond to that. before he could, however, paola said, “i was _joking_ , i know he can’t talk to normal turtles.”

“r-right,” splinter replied.

“you’re welcome,” paola said, sighing and walking away.

splinter crossed his arms as he regarded paola. she was always so...snarky. while he could certainly appreciate sarcasm and deadpan humor, there was something about the way she acted that made him feel like...like she was perpetually rolling her eyes at him. she seemed to swing from being friendly towards him (more or less) and being more...mean spirited. he sighed.

not long after that all the turtles were snuggled into the blanket fort while splinter and cassandra sat just outside the entrance. cassandra’s guitar, which had been left at paola’s cabin by mistake on her previous visit, had been found in one of the closets during the boys’ many rounds of hide n seek.

naturally, they had begged cassandra to play something on it, and she was more than happy to oblige.

“cassandra, how did you learn to play the guitar?” leo asked, laying on his plastron with his head propped up on his elbows.

“well, when capella was...destroyed-” cassandra started, before donnie butted in.

“that’s right!” donnie said, crawling over to cassandra. “i wanted to ask you this morning, but leo started crying- “

“i wasn’t crying!” leo protested.

“yes, you were!” donnie shot back.

“anyway,” cassandra said loudly, drawing the boys attention back to her. “what were you saying, donnie?”

“what happened to capella?” donnie asked, sitting up. “you said that there was a being  powerful enough to destroy a whole world, but you...never said anymore.”

cassandra sighed. “let me answer leo’s question first. then...i’ll tell you more.”

donnie simply nodded, waiting patiently.

“when capella was destroyed, ava and i traveled to ioavis, where an evil man ruled the planet. because i was a capellan, and the evil ruler hated capellans, i had to hide. i wore a visor all the time- both to help me see and to cover my eyes, which gave me away more than anything else,” cassandra explained. she was oversimplifying things, but...she didn’t think it necessary that the turtles know everything about ioavis. “an ioavian took me in. her name was forté, and she ran a music club. well...by day- or by night, to be more accurate. underneath her club was the entrance to a maze of tunnels that ran throughout the city-”

“like sewer tunnels?” leo asked.

cassandra considered it, then nodded. “yes, i suppose so. anyway, she helped sneak people in and out of the city, right under the bad guys’ noses with those tunnels. so she knew how to hide things in plain sight. she took me on as a protégée, and taught me everything she knew about music.”

“was it fun?” mikey asked. “learning music with her?”

“i...there isn’t a lot that i would really classify as ‘fun’ on ioavis, but...yeah, i guess it was,” cassandra said, clearly conflicted. “forté took me in and helped me when no one else would, and...she meant a lot to me. she took a huge risk just by taking me in, and...that’s not something i’ll ever forget.”

the turtles looked to each other- they wanted to ask about what had happened to forté, but they got the feeling that the answer wasn’t a happy one.

“now,” cassandra said, her voice a lot quieter. she straightened up, her back pressed up against the couch. “you wanted to know more about what happened to capella.”

“there was a monster sealed away on capella- her name was atlas. and she was imprisoned for millions of years. over time, people began to forget why atlas was even locked up, and then they began to forget what she even was.”

“by the time i was a kid, everyone thought atlas was some sort of guardian spirit,” cassandra said, her tone melancholy. “they used to have fairy tales about her, where she was the good guy. my mother even read some of them to me before bed.”

cassandra sighed, running a hand through her hair. “when i was eleven, war broke out on capella. and in the middle of all that chaos, some genius let atlas free. guess they bought into that guardian spirit stuff.”

“did you?” splinter asked, speaking up. he’d been quietly listening this whole time- he’d known some of the details about what had occurred on ioavis and capella, but… he hadn’t know much about atlas.

“of course i did,” cassandra said, looking away. “i was a kid. but i know better now.”

he could feel her grief emanating from her, as fresh as if she’d lost her world yesterday. he could read it on her face, yes, but...it was more than just that. he felt it as if it was his own.

there was something more, though, some other emotion that tinged her grief. it heavier than grief- more...suffocating. the faint connection - or whatever it was - wasn’t strong enough to last, and splinter remained puzzled by that second emotion for the rest of the night.

* * *

 

splinter couldn’t sleep. again.

at least it wasn’t nightmares waking him up this time. no, this time he simply couldn’t fall asleep, restless thoughts keeping him awake.

he was the telepath- or empath, as paola had said. he had to be. between the whirlwind of fear that had been shared with paola and cassandra, paola’s anger, and cassandra’s grief...it wasn’t a coincidence that he was experiencing all these things.

 he thought back to what paola had said, about the empath needing to get this under control, or this would just keep happening again. he agreed- he didn’t want to be feeling everyone else’s emotions. the first time it happened, when it was just positive emotions...other than the shock from it, that was fine. but now grief, fear, and anger...he had to deal with these things on his own...he didn’t want to feel so viscerally someone else’s.

he stared at the ceiling, then sighed. he’d gotten used to sleeping with someone else in the room. now everything felt eerily quiet...and lonely.

perhaps cassandra was still awake. she seemed to have as much trouble as he did with sleep.

splinter quietly climbed down the stairs, only to find...just paola in the kitchen. she was tapping on a glass, see through screen- almost like a holographic screen in a sci fi movie.

“is cassandra awake?” splinter said quietly, making paola look up from her screen.

“no, she actually managed to fall asleep tonight,” paola said. “but i’m assuming you’re having trouble with that?”

splinter nodded. “yes, but i suppose if she’s not awake, i’ll just go back upstai-”

“you don’t _have_ to,” paola said. “i don’t _bite_.”

splinter turned around. great, now he felt obligated to sit and talk with her.

however, paola seemed to have little to no interest in talking to him, instead focusing solely on her screen. she was being incredibly rude, honestly. first she said he could sit with her, then she ignores him.

he supposed...he could use this time to try to...connect with her. she was cassandra’s best friend, and he’d like to get along with her. he racked his brain, trying to think of something to say.

“when i was little, i wanted to be an artist,” splinter blurted out.

paola looked up from what she was doing, her head tilted slightly.

“really?” she said, something about her voice sounding more sincere than it had before. “what stopped you?”

“oh, i...i was always too busy with training, and there were so many expectations i had to fill…” splinter said, voice growing melancholy and wistful.

“expectations?” paola repeated curiously. she had set down the glass screen, focused intently on splinter now.

“as the future head of my clan,” splinter explained. paola seemed to understand, nodding thoughtfully.

“that’s a shame,” she said, and for once, splinter felt that paola was being completely genuine with him. there was no hint of sarcasm in her voice- instead, her voice was soft in a way he had never really heard it before. “i was lucky- the part of my coding that should have given me a predetermined purpose was so damaged that i got to choose what i wanted to be. and...well, aside from the first year, cassandra never really placed expectations on me.”

“what happened the first year?” splinter asked, hung up on her statement.

“that’s...complicated,” paola said, looking towards the living room where cassandra slept. “let me get back to you on that. it’s not that i’m unwilling to tell you, it’s just that...it’s not entirely my story to tell.”

“i see,” splinter said, a small frown on his face.

another, less awkward silence filled the room.

“you could always start now,” paola suggested after several minutes. splinter blinked, having gotten lost in his own thoughts.

“start what?” splinter replied.

“learning to draw. or paint. or sculpt,” paola said. “whatever medium interests you.”

splinter floundered for a response. “oh, no, i...i was never...i might have wanted to, but i never...really had any talent for it.”

“talent? what does that have to do with anything?” paola asked. “it’s a learned skill, not some innate ability. it takes a lot of work but anyone can do it.”

“you think so?” splinter asked.

“i do,” paola said, nodding.

“could you- could you not draw at all when you started?” splinter asked curiously.

“of cou- do you think i came into being drawing fucking mozart?” paola asked incredulously.

splinter was taken aback by her choice of words, actually leaning away from the robot. “i...suppose not,” he said slowly. “...you are aware that mozart was a composer, not an artist, right?”

paola was silent.

“whatever,” she said at last. “my point is is that everyone starts off terrible at art, except some people, maybe. if you want to learn to draw, i could help you out.”

“perhaps…” splinter said, shrugging a bit.

they fell into a third silence, this one the least awkward one yet. it was almost...comfortable.

splinter remembered what was keeping him up, and how paola had gotten so angry at the mention of keandra earlier.

“paola…” splinter started, trying to articulate his thoughts.

“what is it?” she replied.

“do you...dislike keandra?” he asked slowly.

paola was silent, before a rush of soft static emitted from her speakers, almost like a sigh. “what makes you think that?” she asked, sounding...tired, of all things.

“i think...i think i’m the telepath- or...empath, you said, right?” splinter asked.

“yes, an empath deals exclusively with emotions,” paola said. “...what did you pick up from me?”

“you...this morning, when cassandra was talking about keandra, you...were angry. so angry that it was…” splinter said, trailing off.

“enough to drive you from the room,” paola said with a new understanding. splinter nodded. “no. i don’t dislike keandra. i...just hate what he did and when he did it.”

“what... did he do?” splinter asked.

“he left. and...yes, everyone else had left, but...it was always different. with brooklyn, we knew she was only going to stay a year. with jayjay and owl, we expected them to move out. with dulcie...that was a whole different story,” paola said, sounding so tired. “but keandra was different. he was the first one to travel with us, and...due to their history, keandra and cassandra promised that they would stay by each other’s side forever.”

“it was a promise neither of them could keep, but...he left when found new capella, deciding to stay behind and work on relations between pyrrah and new capella. pyrrah is the only planet that knows about new capella, and i get on a logical level why he left, and that what he does is important, but...on a personal level? on an emotional level? it felt like he left as soon as we found other capellans. as soon as they weren’t the last ones anymore.”

splinter listened quietly. when she was finished, he said softly, “that was unfair of him. to leave that way.”

“it’s what always happens. everyone leaves, and cassandra’s left all alone,” paola said, a bitter sadness in her voice.

“...that’s not entirely true,” splinter said, a concerned look in his eyes. “she has you.”

paola looked at him, and he got the suspicion that paola had never considered that before.

“yes, i suppose you’re right,” she said.

the silence that followed was comfortable.

“so...you’re the empath,” paola said, at last.

“i think so,” splinter replied. “...what do i do about it?”

“well clearly,” paola said sarcastically, “you learn to control it, then become some sort of superhero. isn’t that what all you earthlings do when you get special abilities?”

it was sarcastic, but far more lighthearted in tone. more than that, it made splinter laugh.

“i doubt i could save the world through the sheer power of emotions, paola,” he retorted.

“you never know,” she said with a shrug. then, more seriously she added, “i mean...you don’t have to do anything. i think you should learn how to control them, just so you know how to turn them off, but...you don’t have to use them.”

he nodded. “but...where would i even begin learning to use them?”

“well it’s not like you’re the only empath in existence, splinter. we can just...look at other species with empathic abilities and see if any of their techniques work for you,” paola said. “you should tell cassandra soon, though. that you’re the empath. she’s been...anxious about it, to say the least.”

“why?” splinter asked. when paola sighed, he continued, “wait, let me guess. that’s not yours to tell either.”

“she has her reasons for keeping all these secrets,” paola said. “i don’t like it anymore than you do- i think those reasons for keeping them are...weak, at best. but...she does have her reasons.”

splinter nodded. “i understand.”

* * *

“goodnight, splinter,” paola said at the base of the stairs.

“goodnight, paola,” he replied, retreating back into his room.

paola returned to the kitchen, preparing to sit back down when she heard familiar whimpers coming from the living rooms.

oh no. it was happening again.

paola raced into the living room to find cassandra lying on her back ramrod straight, one hand gripping the top of the couch and the other gripping the bottom. she was trembling, brown eyes wide open and terrified as tears slide down her cheeks. her teeth were gritted, and paola immediately went into action.

she placed the flat ends of her arms on cassandra’s stomach, pressing down with all of her weight. cassandra’s eyes flicked between paola and the ceiling, the terror refusing to fade.

“it’s okay, cassandra. you’re not going anywhere,” paola said soothingly. “i’ve got you, i’ll keep you grounded.”

it would take a good fifteen minutes before cassandra would calm down enough to let go of the couch, and another five before she drifted back into sleep as she always did after one of these episodes.

paola stood by her side for a while, green eyes glowing softly in the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, let me know what you think!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the plot finally kicks off...with a bang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE NOTE: i officially changed cassandra's last name a little while ago- it is now cassandra lyn. earlier chapters have been edited to reflect this.

time passed quickly after that, with everyone clumsily falling into a routine. days turned into a week, and one cold morning found cassandra awake before everyone else. she’d meant to wake up early on this particular morning- she had been meaning to do maintenance on her ship for a long time now. she’d been meaning to since she got here- to earth, that is- but now that she was at the cabin for an extended period, she couldn’t keep putting it off. she couldn’t make excuses about not having enough time.

she was nursing her second cup of coffee when donnie padded quietly down the stairs, taking a minute to look around before heading straight for the kitchen table and sitting next to cassandra.

“morning,” he said, looking at cassandra.

she raised an eyebrow at him and replied, “morning, donnie. what are you doing up so early?”

donnie shrugged his shoulders before replying, “leo kicked me in his sleep and i couldn’t go back to sleep. what are _you_ doing up so early?”

cassandra blinked, having not expected the question being turned around on her. “i’m gonna do some maintenance on my ship, and wanted to get most of it done before everyone woke up.”

“your ship? the spaceship downstairs? you’re gonna work on it?” donnie asked, eyes wide.

“yeah…?” cassandra replied, not quite understanding what the hang up was.

“can i help?!” donnie asked, excited.

cassandra hummed. “i dunno about helping just yet, kiddo, but you’re more than welcome to watch- i can explain to you what everything does and all that.”

donnie nodded, pleased with that answer. it wasn’t every day you got to learn about how a spaceship worked up close.

“alright, then, let’s get going,” cassandra said, getting up to wash her coffee mug, donnie trailing behind her. “i’ll tell paola that you’re with me, so if everyone wakes up before we’re done, they know where you are.”

“where is she?” donnie asked curiously.

“in the greenhouse,” cassandra said, already heading in that direction.

after stopping in to inform paola that they were going down to the ship, donnie and cassandra slid down the slide.

when they were on the ship, donnie asked, “does paola grow all those sunflowers for you?”

cassandra thought about it, then nodded. “yeah, i guess so.”

the ship felt even bigger and almost eerie now that cassandra and donnie were the only ones in it- not to mention how creepy the cavern was without his brothers and father. as they walked through white, sterile halls, cassandra knocked a simple rhythm onto the wall.

“time to wake up, ava,” she said, voice soft. the entire ship seemed to sigh, as if waking from a deep slumber, and donnie could hear a quiet humming noise- not a mechanical one, but the sound of a person humming.

“good morning, cassandra,” ava chirped, her voice coming from all around them. “oh! and you have one of the children with you! it's donatello, right? the one who woke me up?”

donnie looked all around him, trying to see where the cameras were that ava was looking through.

cassandra answered, “yeah, it's donnie. we’re gonna poke around and do some maintenance if that’s alright with you.”

“of course it’s alright!” ava replied. “one of the auxiliary power units feels funky- could you take a look at it?”

“that’s what we’re here for,” cassandra said nodding. “anything else feel funny?”

“not that i can think of,” ava said thoughtfully. “i’ll run a scan and feel around, but i think it would be best if you just took a look yourself.”

“roger that,” cassandra said, leading donnie through the common area. her voice seemed to bounce off the walls as she walked over to a set of shelves overflowing with clutter- that is, save for the top shelf which came up to cassandra’s chest. donnie could see several photographs, like the ones cassandra had had in her apartment, neatly placed on that top shelf.

he tried moving back, to get a better look at them - to see if he could make out what the pictures were of, but to no avail.

“hey, ava?” donnie asked, looking around.

“yes?” she replied.

“you said something felt funny- does that mean the ship is your body? can you feel everything that goes on inside it?”

“not quite! i’ve picked up a lot of cassandra’s speech patterns over the years, so when i say something ‘feels funky,’ i mean something is wrong, but i’m not quite sure what. i can’t ‘feel’ any part of the ship,” ava explained.

“so it’s like...you live in the ship? and don’t feel anything at all?” donnie asked.

“yes, that’s exactly it!” she chirped as cassandra continued rummaging.

cassandra searched each shelf, though what she was looking for was a mystery to donatello. only when she made a quiet noise of triumph did donnie see what cassandra was looking for- a strange pair of dark grey gloves.

“i knew they were around here somewhere,” she said, more to herself than to donnie.

“what are they for?” he questioned as she slipped them on.

“well, since i’m fire inclined, i can heat metal until it’s malleable- or until it melts completely. but if i were to touch that molten metal, i’d burn myself,” cassandra explained, trying to tidy up the clutter on the shelves as best she could. “i’m fireproof, and i can withstand a lot of heat, but molten metal is one of the few things that can hurt me. you know, as far as inclination related stuff is concerned.”

“so...you use your inclination for welding and soldering and stuff like that?” donnie asked as cassandra got up. “and those gloves protect your hands from getting burnt?”

“that’s right!” cassandra said with a smile. “c’mon, the engine room is this way. oh- i almost forgot. ava?”

“yes, cassandra?” ava replied.

“could you please turn on some music? not too loud, since we have a guest though, okay?” cassandra said. she looked at donnie as she continued, “i usually have music playing while i’m on the ship- the silence can be a bit...overwhelming without it.”

donnie nodded- he was glad he wasn’t the only one who thought that.

“hey, cassandra?” donnie asked, chewing on his beak. “what were those pictures on the top shelf?”

“hm? oh, those?” cassandra said, looking back in the direction they had come from. “oh, right, you wouldn’t be able to see them. you wanna go back and take a look?”

“can we?” he asked.

cassandra nodded, then crouched down. she pointed to her back, then said, “hop on, it’ll be easier to show you if i carry you.”

“oh, okay,” donnie said, hopping up onto her back and wrapping his arms around her to hold on.

as they walked back to the common area, music finally started playing. it was a bright, breezy tune that helped the imposing ship feel a little bit warmer, cozier- though that could have been just from how warm _cassandra_ was.

when they made it back to the shelf, donnie could see the all the pictures cassandra had placed so neatly up there. some pictures had just humans- well, donnie supposed that they were probably other capellans- but a lot of them featured people that weren’t human.

some were more humanoid than others, some would appear entirely human if not for a few features, but only three pictures contained solely people who could pass for human. and even then, paola was somewhere in the frame. cassandra herself was in every picture, which meant they had to be her friends- but aside from dulcie, paola, and cassandra herself, he had no idea who these people were.

“who are they all?” donnie asked, pointing at the photos.

“well, where do you wanna start?” she asked.

“um, that one, the one from before you got your scar,” donnie said, pointing at a photo of five people standing in what appeared to be a very futuristic bar. “that is you, right? with half your head shaved and...normal eyes?”

cassandra let out a laugh at that. “yes, that’s me. remember what i said about ioavians? how i had to wear a visor because my eyes are so different from theirs?”

“uh-huh,” donnie said, nodding. “so those are ioavians?”

“that’s right,” she said. the four ioavians had huge, bulbous eyes that spanned from where their eyebrows should have been to the bottoms of their noses. they had no eyebrows or eyelids- just glassy, glowing eyes that reminded donnie almost of paola’s electronic eye-lights. “well, there’s forté, nikola, oriel, and...theon.”

“you didn’t like theon?” donnie guessed from the way her voice sounded when she said his name.

“theon was...a good leader. a good fighter. he was exactly what ioavis needed to lead them through the revolution,” cassandra said, but her voice seemed hollow and weary and angry all at once. “but he was a terrible teacher. a terrible guardian. he was the last thing...”

“the last thing you needed?” donnie filled in quietly.

cassandra sighed, and nodded. “yeah.”

there was a silence, before cassandra felt compelled to fill it and change the subject. “anyway, that’s who’s in that picture. which one next?” she asked, trying to sound a bit more cheerful.

“oh, um...that one. with the grey people,” he said.

“that’s the royal family of pyrrah. the other capellan there is keandra,” cassandra explained, picking up the photo and pointing to a red haired man next to cassandra. the pyrrites were about the same size as keandra and cassandra, but looked like they had...crystals growing out of their skull instead of hair. their green-grey faces were speckled with flecks of gold, and their eyes were almost glassy.

“which one’s the king? mikey was telling me about her a few days ago.”

“that one,” cassandra said, pointing to the person in the center. she was tall and regal, but seemed stern to the point of being unfriendly. her eyes stared straight ahead at the camera, and donnie was intimidated by her glare.

“she looks...determined,” donnie said, to which cassandra laughed.

“she looks mean,” cassandra corrected. “she’s extremely...unphotogenic. she looks mean in almost every photo that’s been taken of her, but trust me when i say she’s a total goofball when she’s out of the public eye.”

“i’ll take your word for it,” donnie said, wondering how anyone so hostile looking could be goofy.

* * *

 

“i was wondering,” donnie started as cassandra replaced worn bits of wire in one of the ship’s long hallways.

“yes?” she replied, not looking up as she melded the new wire and the old together with her fingers.

“keandra was adopted by the royal family, right? so why does he still have that suffix?”

cassandra hummed. “that’s because names don’t work like that on pyrrah. keandra’s full name is prince keandra of house aurum, the last son of capella.”

“house aurum...that’s the royal family’s house, i’m guessing?” donnie said.

cassandra nodded. “that’s right.”

“so...keandra’s stuck with ‘the suffix of the unwanted?’” donnie asked, concerned. “and what about you? i mean, you got rid of yours, so…”

“well, not unless he gets married,” cassandra said. “to a capellan, anyway. like i said, names don’t really work like that on pyrrah.”

“so if he got married, he’d take on his wife’s suffix?” donnie asked.

“his husband’s suffix,” cassandra corrected. “and yes. that’s generally what people with -ndra suffixes do. we take on the suffixes of our partners.”

“but if you get married to someone here, you’ll just...take their last name, right?” donnie asked.

“mm...i suppose so. but i’m kind of attached to the last name i picked out for myself,” cassandra said. “can you figure out why?”

donne blinked. “cassandra, i don’t know your last name.”

“oh,” cassandra said, looking embarrassed. “well, uh. it’s lyn.”

“after your capellan family? because the suffix was lyn?” donnie guessed.

“yeah,” she said,  checking over her work before placing the panel back on the wall. “how does that feel, ava?”

“much better!” the ai replied happily.

“cassandra, i don’t get it,” donnie stressed. “you gave up your family suffix, and became cassandra again, which is a bad thing, but then you took the suffix on as a last name, which no other capellan has...why?”

“you’re assuming both happened at the same time, kiddo,” cassandra said, sighing as she picked up her toolbox. she gestured with her head for him to follow her. “truth is, i only took on ‘lyn’ as a last name- i’ve only _had_ a last name- for the past ten or so years. and i took on the suffix -ndra again over twenty years ago. so... by the time i decided to take on lyn as a last name, i...was cassandra. it wasn’t a punishment anymore, it’s simply...who i am.”

they came to a circular doorway that they had overlooked on the initial tour of cassandra’s ship, and cassandra stopped, turning to looking at donnie.

“this is the ship’s engine chamber,” cassandra said, oddly stern. “you can not go in this room without an adult...preferably me, since i’m the most familiar with it. but paola knows it well enough, and...actually, don’t go into this room without me or paola.”

“is sensei not allowed in here?” donnie asked.

cassandra ran a hand through her hair, looking conflicted. “it’s not that he’s not _allowed_...he just doesn’t really know anything about this type of thing? it’d be safer if paola or myself was with any of you, because we know how to be safe.”

“cassandra almost died fixing the engines once!” ava chirped.

“ava!” cassandra said sharply, her face heating up. “you don’t tell people that!”

“wait, really?” donnie asked, looking at the door with a great deal more suspicion than before.

“what ava’s neglected to tell you is that engine was running at the time,” cassandra said with an annoyed sigh. “of course i almost died.”

“why would you try to fix it when it was running?” donnie asked as they walked inside.

“i mean, we were kind of in the middle of a chase, so we couldn’t afford to stop,” cassandra explained.

“a chase? from who?” donnie asked eagerly. “what did you do?”

“why do you assume it was my fault we were being chased?” cassandra asked with a laugh as the door closed behind them.

* * *

 

“the valz?” splinter repeated. cassandra nodded.

“yeah, they’re a species of touch empaths that live on gresanerth,” she explained, looking at the datapad in her hand. it was the same translucent one paola had been using when they’d spoken at night. she looked up from it and shrugged, adding, “well, i mean- they can use their empathy without touch, but it’s a lot more difficult.”

“there’s several different species of empaths scattered across the galaxy, but the valz were the ones that matched your powers the closest,” paola explained, sitting down next to cassandra and holding a glass of water. she held as if she was going to drink it, and splinter shot a confused look at cassandra, who merely rolled her eyes and shook her head, as if to say ‘don’t ask.’

“alright,” splinter said, glancing at paola once more before focusing on cassandra. “what are they like? have you ever met one of them?”

“well...no,” cassandra said, shifting uncomfortably. “how do i put this…? the valz have extremely short lifespans, and…”

“spacefaring civilizations tend not to develop close bonds with other species with much shorter lifespans,” paola explained, sounding incredibly well versed in this topic. “they’ll trade and cooperate with each other, but on an individual level, they tend to avoid each other.”

“because of their shorter lifespans?” splinter asked, confused. “how long do they live?”

“about five earth years,” paola said. “think of it this way- for the valz, a capellan is this unchanging, seemingly immortal being who would have incredibly influence over their life; if that capellan stayed around for even just one year, that’s still one-fifth of their entire life.”

“and for the capellan-” cassandra started, before paola cut her off.

“and for the capellan- well, they’ve been there for this person’s entire life, seeing them grow and change, cheering them on and guiding them. and most beings with exceptionally long lives don’t...experience time all that differently. they mature more slowly, but once reaching full maturity...it’s not as if the years seem any quicker.”

“what do you mean?” cassandra asked, brow furrowed.

“well, for- for them, it’s…” paola stumbled over her words uncharacteristically. she let out a static filled sigh, then continued. “for the valz, their entire society is so fast paced, and they’re capable of learning and changing so quickly because of their shorter lifespans. a day to them feels a lot longer than a day to a capellan- or an earthling, for that matter. but studies have shown that pyrrites, who live thousands of years, experiences hours as being just a little bit faster than capellans. and a capellan and an earthling’s perception of time is identical. so it’s not like a pyrrite is going to think of their time with a capellan any less because it ‘felt’ like less time- no, five years is five years. so the valz that the capellan knew their entire life is going to be just as important as any capellan or other being in their life with a longer lifespan. it’s going to hurt the same.”

paola brought her speech to an abrupt end, having gotten quite worked up over the course of it. splinter and cassandra didn’t know what to make of it, looking at paola, then to each other, then back at paola.

“that’s...wow, paola, i had no idea you were interested in that kind of stuff,” cassandra said, though her tone was more concerned and less amazed.

“it’s- fascinating,” paola said haltingly. she seemed almost upset, her words laced with frustration.

“so that’s why valz and capellans don’t form close bonds? because they’re afraid of that loss when the valz grows old and dies?” splinter asked quietly. he had only known paola for a week or two, but she wasn’t the type to spew information like that unprompted- and considering the strange subject matter...he made a mental note to speak with either cassandra or paola herself at a later date.

“yeah. that’s why,” paola said. “anyway, this is way off topic. but i suppose it brings up another point about how the valz learn. cassandra, you have-”

“oh, right!” cassandra said, looking back down at her datapad. “because the valz learn at a faster rate than most other species, all their training exercises are created with the assumption that you’ll be able to master them after one try. which...isn’t realistic for capellans or humans, honestly.”

“not to mention that all valz are empaths, and all training is done in pairs,” paola said, tone still sounding...off. if nothing else, she sounded exhausted. “and on top of that, the training is started when they’re children- an adult learning how to use empath powers is practically unheard of.”

“ah,” splinter said, feeling a bit discouraged.

“so you’re at two big disadvantages,” paola continued. “cassandra’s not an empath, and neither of you are children.”

“wait, what does cassandra have to do with this?” splinter asked, confused.

“well, you’re gonna need someone to help you with training. this isn’t something you can really do all on your own,” cassandra said, handing the datapad to paola. “it’s not like the inclinations, where it’s...where it’s just you, at the end of the day. empathy, telepathy- they’re both...it’s about reaching out. you can’t pick up someone else’s emotions unless there is someone else, right?”

“i guess i never thought of that,” splinter said. “you’re willing to help me though?”

“of course! what are friends for?” cassandra said, resting her head in her hand.

“i’m not sure that reasoning extends to offering to let your friend read your emotions so that they may learn to control their psychic powers,” splinter countered, eyebrow raised, to which cassandra merely waved it off.

“maybe not for normal people, but look around. none of us are normal,” cassandra said. “i’m a clairvoyant alien, you're a mutant with empath powers, and paola's a robot. i think the parameters of what 'that’s what friends are for’ counts for adjusts to accommodate that.”

“even if we were all normal, she'd still do it,” paola said simply, to which cassandra nodded.

“but... why?” splinter asked. “you've done more than enough for me and my family. you let us stay with you, rushed home when we were in danger, and brought us up here so we could be safe. you’ve done more than enough for us- for me.”

cassandra simply shrugged. “like i said, friends help each other out. besides, who else is gonna help you? paola?”

paola looked up from the datapad. “yeah, sorry, no.”

* * *

 

“she’s just like that,” paola said as they watched raph take care of spike, standing side by side in the greenhouse. “cassandra does everything...intensely. so of course, she gets extremely attached to people, and is willing to do anything for them. it doesn’t take much to see that she loves you-”

splinter made a choked noise.

“-and your kids,” paola finished.

splinter let out a small sigh, and paola chose to let the matter drop, instead of teasing him about his reaction.

...did he really think paola meant cassandra loved him romantically? or was he just unused to hearing ‘i love you’ in a platonic way? if the later was the case...he’d better get used to it quickly, paola mused. knowing cassandra, it wouldn’t be too terribly long before she’d start saying it herself.

“anyway, my point is that it’s just the way cassandra is. she has no notion of caring about people by halves,” paola said. she turned to pick up a watering can and tend to the sunflowers around them.

“but…” splinter started, as raph ran out of the room to find his brothers.

“but?” paola echoed, her head turning slightly to look behind her.

“she’s done so much for me and my family...there’s no way i could repay her. and she’s said that she doesn’t care but…” splinter said, trailing off.

paola was silent. a part of her wanted to reassure him that there was nothing to worry about, that there was really nothing she could think of that he could do to repay cassandra...but that would have been selfish. worst of all, it wouldn’t be selfish at the expense of splinter...it’d be at the expense of _cassandra_.

“you _really_ want to repay her?” she said at last.

splinter nodded. “i do.”

paola sighed, and said, “then be there for her. she does everything intensely and burns herself out. she never asks for help so you have to be able to figure when she does need it. like i said...just be there for her. it’ll mean more to her than you’ll ever know.”

_be there for her, and don’t leave her,_ paola thought to herself. _stars, i don’t know how many more cassandra can take leaving her. not after everything._

“that’s all?” splinter asked.

paola nodded. “that’s all.”

the greenhouse was silent for a few minutes- paola half expected splinter to leave, seeing as how their conversation was effectively over, but he remained standing there, deep in thought, as paola tended to the sunflowers.

“it’s kind of you to grow sunflowers for her,” splinter said at last, his voice soft.

“hm?” was her only reply.

“cassandra- you do grow them for her, don’t you?” splinter asked.

“no, i don’t,” paola said. when he questioned why she did grow them, the robot only shrugged.

she certainly wasn’t going to tell him the real reason why.

* * *

“hey, cassandra?” leo said, pressing the star shaped cookie cutter into the rolled out dough. cassandra, who was in the middle of washing dishes, turned her head to look at the young turtle.

“what’s up, kiddo?” she asked, shaking her hands once as the water hissed and evaporated off her hands.  

“can you cook stuff with your hands?” he asked. pointing at her now dry hands, he added, “like how you can do that?”

cassandra made a face, and said, “not really. i mean, it is possible, but i’m...really bad at it. i always end up burning whatever i’m trying to cook.”

“that’s why she’s been regulated to dish duty,” paola said from where she sat with donnie and raph, putting icing on the sugar cookies. “i told you, she can’t cook to save her life.”

cassandra glared at paola for a good thirty seconds before walking over to the counter where leo and mikey were dealing with the cookie dough.

“i can do this, though!” she said loudly, before pinching off a piece of cookie dough and popping it in her mouth.

everyone in the kitchen looked at each other, waiting for cassandra to do something extraordinary.

“i’m pretty sure everyone can just eat cookie dough, cassandra,” raph piped up.

paola raised her fingers and said, “wait for it.”

a few seconds later, cassandra spit out a perfectly baked cookie into her palm, showing it off to leo and mikey- and splinter, who was standing nearby and in charge of oven duty.

“that’s so cool!” mikey said, both his and his brother’s eyes as wide as saucers.

“can you do it again?” leo asked as raph and donnie ran over from the table, to see what was going on.

“yeah, do it again!” raph said.

“alright, but one more time,” cassandra said. this time, she threw the bit of cookie dough up the air, and caught it with her mouth. just like before, the kitchen was silent for a few seconds before cassandra spat out the baked cookie into her hand alongside the other one.

“that’s kinda gross…but really cool,” raph said as cassandra popped both cookies into her mouth to actually eat this time.

“so you can’t cook things with your hands, but you can with your mouth? are you breathing fire to bake them?” donnie questioned.

cassandra shook her head and swallowed before she said, “no, it’s more like...the air in my mouth is heated up? so my mouth is kinda like an oven. breathing fire doesn’t give me the precision i need to cook things right.”

“but what about your hands?” leo pressed.

“that’s because...paola does have a point; i am a terrible cook,” cassandra admitted with a shrug and a sigh, with paola snickering in the background. “if i can’t actually taste it then i just burn whatever it is i’m trying to cook.”

“is...cooking with your mouth common amongst fire inclined capellans, or is that something you figured out on your own?” splinter asked, finally speaking up.

“i actually don’t know,” cassandra admitted, looking as if the question had never crossed her mind before. “i know cooking in general is really common- my mother is good at that- but, uh, everything i know how to do with my inclination, i pretty much had to teach myself.”

“all of it?” splinter questioned, eyebrows knitted.

“yeah, pretty much. by the time we got to new capella, i was twenty-three, and my inclination had been awake for over a decade. i needed to get my powers under control, and it’s not like...well, it’s not like i anticipated finding new capella,” cassandra said with a shrug. “so i had to teach myself.”

“are they hard to control?” donnie piped up as he sat back down next to paola.

“they were, for a long time. i...inclinations aren’t supposed to wake up until after puberty for a reason. each inclination comes from a different place- it asks of you something different. for the fire inclined, our inclinations is powered by our emotions,” cassandra said. “on top of lacking emotional maturity because i was still a kid...well, i was a mess after capella fell, and my inclination reflected that.”

“oh,” was all he said.

a few seconds of awkward silence passed by before leo spoke up again.

“hey, cassandra?” he asked once more. “i’ve been trying to think of a nickname for you, and i wanted to know what you thought of the ones i’ve thought of so far.”

“a nickname? what for?” cassandra said, looking over her shoulder as she went back to washing the dishes.

“well...if your name means something bad, then-” leo started before cassandra cut him off.

“look, guys- my name is just my name. it’s been a long time since i felt bad about it, so please- don’t worry about it,” cassandra said, trying to keep the exasperation out of her voice. truth be told, the more the boys brought it up...the more cassandra remembered that her name had been something that brought her pain. she wished they’d just drop it altogether.

in the end, however, her curiosity won out and as she started cleaning one of the glasses, she added, “but what were you thinking of?”

“oh! um, well- how about cassie?” leo asked, and everything in her came to a screeching halt.

cassandra’s stomach dropped out at that familiar name, and there was the sound of shattering glass as the cup in her hands exploded. everyone in the kitchen jumped, save for cassandra, who only stared at the shards of glass embedded in her palms blankly.

“oh no,” paola said, a quiet rush of static leaving her as she rushed to cassandra’s side. splinter had the same idea, tiptoeing around shards of the broken glass to look at cassandra’s hands.

“are you alright cassandra?” he asked, gently holding her hands and turning them over so he could examine them.

slowly, cassandra seemed to regain her senses, blinking and shaking her head slightly, and saying in a strange, faraway voice, “-sorry, i’m sorry, i-”

“it’s fine, cassandra, it happens sometimes,” paola said, rubbing her fingers on cassandra’s back comfortingly. “you two go sit down, i’ll clean this up.”

“are you sure?” splinter asked.

“broken glass can’t hurt an artificial body like mine. you two, with your fleshy and delicate bodies, on the other hand, are a different story,” paola said, shooing them away.

“fleshy and delicate?” splinter echoed, eyebrow raised as he guided cassandra to the table, which was now empty. he heard cassandra let out a soft laugh, and realized what paola was doing- she’d meant to make cassandra laugh- to cheer her up with her absurd wording.

donnie and raph stood next to leo and mikey, who had witnessed the whole event. leo in particular looked upset, and said, sounding forlorn, “did i say something wrong?”

donnie’s mind was whirring, trying to figure out the answer to that question. why would the nickname cassie bother cassandra so mu-

paola was right. _oh no_.

“that was gonna be your name, wasn’t it?” donnie said, remembering his conversation with cassandra about keandra’s name, and how people with that suffix took on their partner’s suffix. cassandra looked up at him, and donnie added, “dulcie- her suffix was ‘-ie’, wasn’t it? so your name would have been...you know….when you got married.”

cassandra let out a sigh and nodded. “yeah, that was gonna be my name. dulcie used to call me that, after we got engaged. she was the only one i ever was, or...ever will be, really- comfortable with calling me that.”

“i’m sorry, cassandra,” leo said, feeling downright awful. “i didn’t mean to make you sad.”

cassandra shook her head. “you didn’t know, kiddo,” she said gently. “there was no way you could have known. it’s not your fault. that’s not the first time i’ve been called that by someone other than dulcie, especially not on earth. just... no more nicknames, okay? just call me cassandra.”

the turtles nodded, almost solemnly, the kitchen falling into a deafening quiet.

“do you always blow stuff up when you hear that name?” raph asked, breaking the silence and earning himself a dirty look from pretty much everyone besides cassandra. “what?! it’s a good question! what if she hears it around a human and they find out she’s got fire powers?”

cassandra laughed at that, a loud sound, full of mirth. it took her a few minutes to calm down, tears of laughter prick at her eyes and she almost went to wipe them away until splinter grabbed her wrists to stop her. that brought her back down quite a bit, but her shoulders shook as she quietly giggled.

“cassandra, please,” splinter said, voice full of faux exasperation. “you’re going to hurt yourself.”

“i am not!” she said, indignant.

“mmhm,” he hummed, struggling to keep the smile off his face. “paola, do you have a pair of tweezers so i can start removing the glass shards from her hands?”

“no,” paola replied bluntly.

“no?” splinter echoed, confused.

“i just use my fingers. here,” she said, and with that two fingers floated over to splinter, connecting at one end magnetically (or at least, that’s what splinter assumed), and thin, flat pieces of metal extending on the other end. the fingers must have disconnected from paola, because they fell lifelessly into splinter’s hand.

they worked as a pair of tweezers, yes...but it was still strange to be using paola’s fingers like this. he shook his head and got to work removing the shards of glass from cassandra’s hands. as he did so, he noticed the plethora of scars already on her hands, and he couldn’t help but wonder if this exact situation had happened before.

“cassandra, you didn’t answer my question,” raph said, pouting. he let out an indignant huff when cassandra snickered at the reminder of his question, and whined, “i don’t get what’s so funny about my question!”

“nor do i,” splinter confessed. he looked over to paola, who was throwing the shards of glass out. she caught his gaze and shrugged.

“don’t look at me, i don’t get it either,” she said. everyone turned to look at cassandra for an explanation, and the attention made her face flush.

“it’s just that- the only people that have really called me that before are all humans,” cassandra said, feeling embarrassed now that she had to explain why she laughed.  “the only other earthlings i know besides you guys are humans. so i thought it was funny when you were worried that i might hear it from a human...because with a few exceptions, that’s the only place i hear it from.”

raph was quiet for a moment, before saying, “okay, but that still doesn’t answer my question. do you always blow stuff up when you hear that name?”

cassandra shook her head. “no, not really. but then again, i’m a lot more...careful around humans? or at least, i use my clairvoyance a lot more, so i’m not often...caught off guard like that.”

“does that mean you trust us lots?” mikey asked.

cassandra nodded, then winced as splinter removed a rather large piece of glass from her hand.

“sorry,” he murmured, glancing up to meet her eyes.

“it’s fine,” she replied.

“has this happened before?” he asked, looking at the scars on her hands, and running his thumb along the largest scar on her left hand- which was now glass free. it spanned almost the entire width of her palm, and he couldn’t help but wonder where she got it. her hands were rough and calloused as well, but despite that they were warm and gentle...an apt way to describe cassandra herself, actually. scarred and battered from the life she had lived, but still warm and gentle.

he then realized he’d been staring at his friend’s left hand for a good minute or two now, and looked up meet her gaze to find her staring at him, her gaze oddly intense and focused. however, she quickly relaxed after he looked up, giving him a bright smile, and turning over her left hand so she could hold his hand and give it a squeeze.

“here!” mikey chirped, his sudden presence startling the both of them. he set a package of bandaids on the table next to his father. “paola told us cassandra would need bandaids for her hands.”

splinter nodded, feeling out of it. “yes, thank you,” he said. he turned back to cassandra and mikey rejoined his brothers, and noticed that cassandra was still holding his hand, his heart beating faster at the contact. it was silly to get so flustered at something like this, but he was flustered nonetheless.

“right, well,” splinter said, slipping his hand out of cassandra’s and focusing back on the task at hand.

“oh- sorry,” cassandra said, glancing at his hand, then hers. “i didn’t mean to get blood on your hand.”

splinter looked down to see red smudges on his hand- there wasn’t much blood on him, since cassandra wasn’t bleeding much at all, so he shrugged. “it’s fine,” he said, working on cassandra’s right hand.

not ten minutes later, cassandra’s hands were covered in brightly colored bandaids, and the kitchen was filled with laughter, nicknames and scarred hands all but forgotten.

* * *

 

_“he sank and sank and sank,”_ splinter read, sitting on the side of the bed where the turtles were tucked in, each of them a rapt listener. _“he kept his eyes open the whole time. not because he was brave, but because he had no choice. his painted-on eyes witnessed the blue water turning to green and then to blue again. they watched as it finally became as black as night.”_

_“edward went down and down. he said to himself, if i am going to drown, certainly i would have done so by now.”_

_“far above him, the ocean liner, with abilene aboard it, sailed blithely on; and the china rabbit landed, finally, on the ocean floor, face-down; and there, with his head in the muck, he experienced his first genuine and true emotion.”_

_“edward tulane was afraid.”_

he had reached the end of the chapter, but nothing had truly been resolved, and splinter wanted to keep reading as much as he knew the boys would want him to. he quickly turned the page, and was about to start reading before anyone would know that the chapter had been over in the first place, when he cast a sideways glance at cassandra, who was sitting on the other side of the bed.

one look at her expression told him what he’d feared; cassandra knew this book inside and out, and knew very well that he’d reached the end of this chapter. her eyebrow was raised, and she was smiling, as if daring him to keep reading.

he closed the book, giving her a dirty look. she was hellbent on keeping them reading one chapter a night- presumably to make the book last longer- but that was easy for her, someone who it would seem had the book memorized. meanwhile, splinter and the boys were left in suspense every single night, wondering what would happen to the china rabbit next.

even more infuriating was that he and cassandra had begun playing some bizarre cat and mouse game with the book itself- more than once, he’d tried to read ahead, and every time cassandra had caught him, thanks to her clairvoyance. now, they’d try to hide the book from one another, and with only a limited space to hide it in, the places where they did hide were becoming more and more...unusual.

one day he hid the book in cassandra’s car...and the next day she retaliated by hiding it in some obscure compartment of her ship. he’d had to swallow his pride and ask her where she’d hid it that night.

“that’s it?” leo protested. “but he’s at the bottom of the ocean! is he gonna be okay?”

“you’ll just have to wait and find out tomorrow,” cassandra said with a wink, as five pairs of eyes glared at her.

once the boys had been tucked in, splinter and paola sat in the kitchen while cassandra showered. since he had read tonight, he was the one who had the book, and the one who would hide it either tonight or early tomorrow.

though...cassandra wasn’t here right now- he could read ahead. the only thing stopping him was paola’s presence. he felt fairly certain that the robot would immediately tell cassandra that he had read ahead, even though they’d grown a little bit closer, and he’d seen how much paola enjoyed teasing cassandra.

he tapped his fingers on the sides of the book, then asked her as much, saying, “how quickly would you tell cassandra if i were to read ahead?”

“oh, as soon as she walked in the room,” paola said shamelessly.

“that’s what i thought,” splinter replied, looking at the well worn book. “why is she so determined to read just one chapter a night?”

“well, that’s how she experienced it. one chapter at a time,” paola said with a shrug.

“wait- did she actually read this book as a child? but this is...this is from earth,” splinter said, confused.

“not when she was child, no, but it’s not like earth exists in a vacuum. she got it on pyrrah, and she’d read one chapter a day, so keandra could help he-” paola’s voice cut out unnaturally, and splinter was worried something was wrong with her for a minute.

“keandra could help her what? read it?” splinter asked, brows furrowed.

“no, no, no!” paola said, voice glitching and regret and dread positively radiating from her.

“but if the book was in english, then it would make sense that she would need help reading it,” splinter said, trying to piece together why paola was so upset about her slip up. “unless...it wasn’t in english when she read it for the first time? was it translated into capellan?”

“stop!” paola exclaimed, standing up suddenly and covering his mouth with her fingers. “stop thinking and putting it together!”

this only confirmed splinter’s theory- that the book had been translated into capellan when she’d first read it, and that she’d still needed help from keandra when reading it. while he wasn’t sure why she needed help, since it was...in his opinion, a very easy book to read, he was even more unsure why paola was acting like it was some terrible secret.

splinter pried paola’s fingers (which must have been acting as on unit instead of twelve independent fingers) away from his mouth, and snapped, “will you stop? if i’m not supposed to know, then fine, but you’re completely overreacting.”

“no, i’m not!” paola insisted, almost childishly. “it’s extremely embarrassing for her- she doesn’t want anyone to know.”

“alright! then i’ll just act like i don’t know!” he said.

“you don’t even know the full story!” she exclaimed, wearing splinter’s patience down even further.

“are you going to _tell me_ the full story?” he replied tersely.

“...no,” paola said, faltering. she sat back down, arms crossed, to which splinter rolled his eyes.

“it’s not even that big of a deal,” splinter said, head in his hand. “who cares if she had trouble reading when she was younger?”

“to you,” paola replied after a pause. “it’s not a big deal _to you_. but to cassandra? it’s very much a big deal.”

it was at that particular moment that cassandra entered the kitchen, wearing purple pajamas with sheep on them.

“what are you guys talking about?” she said curiously as she sat down at the table. splinter and paola looked at each other with panicked expressions, each trying to think of what to say.

“nothing?” paola offered, to which splinter nodded.

“nothing,” he echoed. “absolutely nothing.”

“uh...huh,” cassandra said slowly, not buying it for a second, but choosing to let the matter drop.

* * *

 

it was still dark out when cassandra went out to the lake, and the stars were covered by clouds, so she conjured up a handful of fireballs to light up the area as she skated. she wore no jacket, because she simply didn’t feel the cold, but she’d brought one anyone, just in case a certain someone decided to join her.

the jacket- and an extra pair of ice skates- was hanging on a tree branch on the banks of the frozen lake. she looked over to see if splinter had finally joined her. it was only a matter of time, and she was excited to share this with him.

ice skating was something near and dear to her heart. as a child, her mothers had signed her up for dance lessons, skating lessons, and music lessons, all in an attempt to help their eldest daughter be a little more graceful and a little less…aggressive.

it hadn’t worked in the slightest, but it did give cassandra a lifelong appreciation for music, one that forté only fed while cassandra lived with her, and a love for ice skating. aside from the ballroom dances she’d picked up on pyrrah, cassandra felt clumsy and...too big when dancing. she wasn’t a fool- cassandra knew she was extremely tall by human standards; hell, by most species standards. as a result she felt that sometimes...she simply took up too much space, and that fed into her feeling as if she was clumsy. but on ice, it was a completely different story.

when she was on the ice, she felt graceful, poised, and even a teensy bit beautiful- things she didn’t feel too often off the ice. sometimes- like right now, for example- she’d close her eyes and pretend that she was figure skater, wearing some magnificent costume and performing for hundreds of people, all left speechless by her beauty and skill.

cassandra opened her eyes again, and saw not an ice rink filled with an wonderstruck audience, but one rat mutant on the edge of the lake. having been wrapped up in her own daydreams, cassandra was surprised to see him there and jumped slightly…

making her slip and fall flat on her butt.

“are you alright?” splinter called out from the shore, and cassandra nodded.

“yeah, i’m fine,” she said, standing up and making her way over to him. “the only thing that’s hurt is my pride.”

he let out a chuckle at that, then said, “you looked like you were a million miles away- i didn’t want to startle you...though i suppose i did anyway.”

“i do tend to get lost in my own thoughts,” she agreed. cassandra pointed to the skates and jacket not far from them and added, “i brought an extra pair of skates- put them on and join me!”

“oh, i…” splinter started, looking from cassandra’s eager expression to the skates, then back again. it didn’t take much for him to crumble, and said with a tiny sigh, “alright.”

cassandra waited for him as he pulled on the ice skates and joined her, her arms outstretched for him to hold onto as he took his first few tentative steps on the lake. splinter looked nervous, to say the least, so cassandra gave him an encouraging smile.

“have you ever ice skated before?” she asked, slowly backing up, and bringing splinter with her.

“o-once or twice, when i was very young,” splinter said, stuttering as his feet nearly slipped out from underneath him. he was bent over, leaning heavily on cassandra, and he was shaking just the slightest bit.

“so no recent experience. that’s okay- ice skating’s a breeze once you get the basics down,” cassandra said cheerfully.

“says the woman who’s clearly been doing this for years,” he mumbled, making cassandra laugh.

“fair enough,” she said with a shrug. “alright, let’s start with this. you’re gonna have to straighten up a bit- lean forward a little, and keep your knees slightly bent.”

he struggled to do so, ending up with his hands on cassandra’s upper arms for support. “like this?” he asked.

“mmhm!” cassandra said with a nod. “now, push your skates apart, then back together.”

“what?” splinter said, looking up at her like she was crazy. “won’t that make it harder to keep balance?”

she shook her head. “trust me, i know what i’m doing.”

gathering his courage, he did as she instructed, but it was too fast and with too much force, and splinter went barreling into what was in front of him- cassandra.

he knocked her over, and landed on top of her, knocking the wind out of the capellan’s four lungs. as soon as they both got their bearings, he scrambled to get off of her, apologizing profusely. that left cassandra lying flat on her back on the ice, and she couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up inside of her.

her joy was infectious, and splinter found himself laughing as well before long. they sat on the ice laughing together as the sun began to peek out on the horizon.

* * *

 

“i’ll be along in a bit,” cassandra assured splinter as he turned to walk back the cabin. the turtles must be awake by now, and while paola liked them, neither of them wanted to leave the turtles alone with her...and vice versa.

she resumed skating, but before a few minutes had passed, something stopped her. a feeling of rising dread was clawing at her insides as she stood in the middle of the lake. she searched her visions- where was this coming from? what was going wrong? that feeling of dread reached a sudden crescendo when- just like a few weeks prior- she felt all the odds shift, and she was struck by a vision of exactly what her dread was heralding.

she was moving before she was even conscious of it, skating towards the shore as fast as she possibly could, and instead of wasting time taking off her skates, cassandra let them burn, leaving behind two strips of half melted metal behind as she ran barefoot in the snow.

in the distance, a gunshot went off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my apologies for disappearing for five, almost six months! school really kicked my ass this semester.


End file.
